Q1.What are the energetic costs of increased brains size and how they are met.

Brain size of primates particularly humans are relatively big compared to our body mass. The evolution of human brain may be tracked back from our ancestors. Increased in brain mass are likely caused by the enhanced intelligence of the hominine taxon, foraging and processing of food, and social skills. Humans are capable of communication through the use of language and speech, cooking of foods and use sophisticated tools as demonstrated by technology. These enhanced skills separate humans from its close relatives and allowed our species to develop a much bigger brain as expected. The average human brain is 4.6 times the size of an average mammal. However, the large size of the brain consequently requires a large amount of energy for growth and maintenance (Aiello and Wheeler 1995). To meet the demand for energy, humans consume nutrient rich food compared to other mammals that rely mostly on raw animals, fruits and foliage. Large mammals such as gorillas and orangutans consume large volumes of food to obtain sufficient nutrients to maintain its large brain size. Humans on the other hand eat less but with nutrient-dense diet. Early homoerectus sustained high cerebral metabolism through the consumption of richer, higher calorie content animal food with less low-quality plant based diet. Also, to compensate for the high metabolic activity of the brain, other tissues in the body would receive less energy and nutrient; more active organs will also have decreased size and mass. The gastro-intestinal track in humans is only 60% the size of similar primate therefore balancing its metabolic expenditure (Leonard et al. 2003). The same case can be applied in human infants. During infancy the mass of active organs in humans is low with high deposits of adipose tissue to feed the brain. Low muscularity in children reduces the total cost of metabolism (aside from the brain). Therefore, the brain will receive more energy from the fat reservoir in children allowing encephalization to take place (Leonard et al. 2003). Humans are able to supply the brain with constant energy by having a constant energy (fat) reservoir, adopting a nutritious and calorie rich diet and through the decreased size of metabolically active organs in the body. These evolutionary adaptations of humans permitted encephalization and the maintenance of human brain size.

Q2. How and why did our ancestors began to walk upright. Bipedalism is a character of early hominins that separates them from other apes. Multiple hypotheses are associated with the origin of bipedalism. Foraging, energetics, locomotion, thermoregulation and transport of food from one place to another are plausible explanations for bipedalism. The origin of bipedalism was observed in chimpanzees- a close relative of humans. Bipedal posture is associated with foraging. A study carried out in arboreal environment showed chimpanzees in tree tops gathering fruits while standing on both legs and holding on a branch for support. They were also observed standing on the ground and to reach for a low branch to grab fruits. This hypothesis is likely to be true as fruits on the ground become scarce and primates had to stand on two feet for extra height and climb on trees on two feet with brachial support. Vertical climbing forces the chimpanzees to stand upright and the arboreal theory is so far the most accepted hypothesis (Stanford 2006). It has also been found that bipedalism in humans reduce the cost of energy in comparison to our ancestors. Bipedal walking in humans is approximately 75% less costly than bipedal and quadrupedal walking in chimpanzees. This is due to our longer hindlimbs and more extended hip. This gave the early hominins an advantage over other apes in terms of foraging (Sockol, Raichlen and Pontzer 2007). Another hypothesis that attempted to explain bipedalism comes from the aquatic theory. It suggests that group of apes migrated and entered the water to avoid predators and obtain food. Although no fossil have been found to support the hypothesis, the current appearance of human with very small amount of body hair implies that we have evolved from swimmers. The absence of hair means that the body can dry quicker thus supporting the aquatic hypothesis. Also the fact that infants can swim after a few weeks, fat under the skin for insulation, copious sweat gland and our developed fondness of sea foods and aquatic activities supports this hypothesis. Also for apes living in the coasts, they had to wade through shallow water in search of food thus forcing them to adopt bipedal locomotion (La Lumiere 1981). Although many hypothesis were already presented, the origin of bipedalism is still unknown and many possibilities are still being explored.

References: Aiello, L., Wheeler, P., 1995 The Expensive-Tissue Hypothesis The Brain and the Digestive System in Human and Primate Evolution http://www.jstor.org.eproxy.ucd.ie/stable/pdfplus/2744104.pdf?acceptTC=true La Lumiere, L.P., 1981 Evolution of human bipedalism: a hypothesis about where it happened http://www.jstor.org.eproxy.ucd.ie/stable/pdfplus/2398648.pdf?acceptTC=true Leonard, W., Robertson, M., Snodgrass, J., Kuzawa C., 2003 Metabolic correlates of hominid brain evolution http://www.sciencedirect.com.eproxy.ucd.ie/science?_ob=MiamiImageURL&_cid=271106& _user=103682&_pii=S1095643303001326&_check=y&_origin=gateway&_coverDate=30Sep-2003&view=c&wchp=dGLbVlt-zSkzS&md5=62de1a14d7d3711de977ebfe8c0f27d6/1s2.0-S1095643303001326-main.pdf Sockol, M., Raichlen, D., Pontzer H., 2007 Chimpanzee locomotor energetics and the origin of human bipedalism http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1941460/ Stanford, C. 2006 Arboreal Bipedalism in Wild Chimpanzees: Implications for the Evolution of Hominid Posture and Locomotion http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.eproxy.ucd.ie/doi/10.1002/ajpa.20284/pdf