Allman J, McLaughlin T, Hakeem A
Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91125.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Jan 1;90(1):118-22. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.1.118.
In haplorhine primates (tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans), there is a significant correlation between brain weight and maximum life-span when the effect of body size is removed. There is also a significant correlation in haplorhine primates between brain weight and female age at first reproduction. For strepsirhine primates (lorises and lemurs), there are no significant correlations between brain weight and either life-span or female reproductive age when the effect of body size is removed. This lack of correlation in strepsirhine primates may be related to the fact that these primates are nocturnal and/or natives of the island of Madagascar, both of which conditions may reduce competition for resources and predation pressure. These findings suggest that in haplorhine primates the genetic systems controlling brain growth are linked to the systems governing the life cycle so that species with longer cycles have larger brains. When the effect of body weight is removed, leaf-eating haplorhines have significantly smaller brains and shorter lives than haplorhines with other diets. Harem-living haplorhines also have significantly smaller brains and shorter life-spans than troop-living haplorhines when the effect of body weight is removed. We also sought to test the rate-of-living hypothesis by determining whether primates with basal metabolic rates that are higher than would be expected for their body size have shorter maximum life-spans than would be expected for their body size. Metabolic rate is not correlated with life-span or female age at first reproduction when the effect of body size is removed.
在灵长目简鼻亚目动物（眼镜猴、猴子、猿和人类）中，去除体型因素的影响后，脑重量与最长寿命之间存在显著相关性。在灵长目简鼻亚目动物中，脑重量与雌性首次繁殖年龄之间也存在显著相关性。对于灵长目原猴亚目动物（懒猴和狐猴），去除体型因素的影响后，脑重量与寿命或雌性繁殖年龄之间均无显著相关性。灵长目原猴亚目动物缺乏这种相关性，可能与以下事实有关：这些灵长类动物是夜行性动物和/或马达加斯加岛的本土动物，这两种情况都可能减少资源竞争和捕食压力。这些发现表明，在灵长目简鼻亚目动物中，控制大脑生长的遗传系统与控制生命周期的系统相互关联，因此生命周期较长的物种大脑更大。去除体重因素的影响后，食叶的灵长目简鼻亚目动物的大脑明显小于以其他食物为食的灵长目简鼻亚目动物，寿命也更短。去除体重因素的影响后，以妻妾群居的灵长目简鼻亚目动物的大脑和寿命也明显小于以群体生活的灵长目简鼻亚目动物。我们还试图通过确定基础代谢率高于其体型预期水平的灵长类动物的最长寿命是否低于其体型预期寿命，来检验生活率假说。去除体型因素的影响后，代谢率与寿命或雌性首次繁殖年龄无关。
