Critique paper

"Teeth, Brains, and Primate Life Histories"

The nature of relationships among dental development, somatic development, skeletal

development, and life history is complex. The timing of dental development is not
related to species-level differences in brain and body size, but it is relative to somatic
and cranial growth. Teeth grow increasingly and preserve within them a record of that
increasing growth in the form of microscopic growth lines. Studying dental development
in extinct primates, and its relationship to adult brain and body size as well as other life
history and ecological parameters ( diet, somatic growth rates, gestation length, age at
weaning), holds the potential to yield unparalleled insights into the life history profiles of
fossil primates. Using reconstructions or estimates of adult body mass, brain size, and
diet in Primates, as well as the eruption sequence of its permanent teeth, it explored the
efficacy of these variables in predicting the absolute pace of dental development in this
fossil species. Brain size is the best single predictor of crown formation time in
primates, but other variables help to explain the variation.

Critique of the Article

Focus
The title of the paper is "Teeth, Brains, and Primate Life Histories" by Laurie R. Godfrey, K.E.
Samonds, W.L Jungers, and M.R. Sutherland. The title itself of the research paper already gives the
summary and overview of the whole study. It attracts the interest of the readers on the relationship
between Dental development and other variables.
Background
The study has been created in order to determine the role of brain size, body size, age at
weaning, and age at first female breeding that are more commonly considered in studies of mammalian
life history variation. The task is not to test competing explanations of life history variation. Rather, it
focuses on the variables that serve as a possible correlates of variation in primate dental development.
Terms of Reference
The objectives of Godfrey are to find out the effects of brain and body development, protein
consumption, dental precocity with dental development and also to determine if there is a correlation
between those mentioned above and the variables such as age at weaning, body size, brain size and
diet, moreover this paper is aimed to find out the association among variables and dental development.

Study Design
In the study conducted by Godfrey, the researcher used the qualitative method in measuring the
relationship among species, dietary category, immature individuals and mature individuals, as well as the
variables such as age at weaning and first breeding, diet, brain size, etc.
Sample
Data eruption and metric data were collected by K.E.S. and L.R.G. on 900 individuals belonging to
40 species in 11 families of nonhuman primates. Collection of dates for wild-caught lemurs, coat
characteristics for colobines and some new world monkeys, and body masses of wild-caught and captive
individuals belonging to species whose growth increase overtime. The result was a reconstruction of at
least partial eruption schedules for the primate species. Life history data were compiled from the primary
literature. For each individual mesiodistal and buccolingual diameters were measured. The sample of
measured crania are given in which the dietary category includes insects, fruits, and foliage or
seeds.
For the data analysis the author specify the predictions of each of the hypothesis using shared
and unique contributions of explanatory variables. A table was given as a summary of the predictions of
each of the six hypotheses and their corresponding statistical tests. Directional hypothesis is tested using
one tailed probabilities and non-directional hypothesis is tested using two tailed probabilities. It is the
unique predictions of each hypothesis that are most critical to hypothesis testing.
Hypothesis
In this study the researcher tested six hypotheses. Two link developments to aspect of adult size
and four relate development to diet.
The design constraint hypothesis: generally talks about the measurement of development
between large bodied species and small-bodied species
The brain pleiotropy hypothesis: cranial capacity should predict age at weaning and first
breeding. Dental development may prolong as an incidental effect of prolonged brain growth.
The foraging independence hypothesis: this is a logical derivative of what has been called
need to learn hypothesis, which purports to explain the observed correlation between large brain size
and delayed reproduction.
The risk aversion hypothesis: the premise of this hypothesis is that resource distribution and
abundance co varies with diet, and affects the risk of starvation.

The food processing hypothesis: the premise of this hypothesis is that the mechanical
requirements of mastication co vary with diet.
The protein richness hypothesis: the premise of this hypothesis is that, because protein is
essential for growth, the relative amount of protein in the diet influences rates of growth and development.

Data Presentations
The author has used tables to present the statistical data of the research. Tables for the test of risk
aversion hypothesis, test of food processing hypothesis, and the test of protein richness hypothesis. In
addition the results for the test of dental precocity at weaning and age at weaning were also presented in
the form of graphs.
Main Findings
The study has determined that adult body size fares poorly in comparison to brain size which is
considered the best predictor of dental development precocity at 4 months and 1 year. There is also little
or no comparison between age at first breeding and the pace of dental development, once the effects of
body size is controlled. Mechanical requirements for food processing also affect dental development at
weaning. Species feeding on large amounts of insects, seeds, or foliage develop quickly. However, these
species are also typically either small-bodies or small-brained. The ratio of dental development at
weaning to age of weaning co varies inversely with brain and body size in primates.
Conclusion and Recommendation
In the study it has shown that there are correlations between the brain size, diet and dental
development in primates and that its independent of body size, age at first breeding, and cranial capacity.