Comparative ontogeny in humans and chimpanzees: Similarities, differences and paradoxes in postnatal growth and development of the skull

The hypothesis of retarded development is a classic and controversial issue in human evolution. It depends directly on the understanding of ontogenetic trajectories and their basic constituents: timing, rate and associated patterns of maturation. In the present study, we applied geometric morphometrics to investigate postnatal ontogeny in human and chimpanzee skulls (N = 302). We evaluated postnatal ontogenetic rates, based on comparisons of properties of size and shape in adults. At different dental ages the percentage of the adult mean size (growth) and adult mean shape (development) was used to quantify patterns of maturation. We found significantly higher levels of ontogenetic maturity in humans than chimpanzees during pre-M1 and M1 eruption. However, during this ontogenetic period the human increments were lower than those of chimpanzees suggesting lower rates. During and after M2-eruption species did not differ in their ontogenetic trajectories. The results indicate that higher prenatal and lower peri- and postnatal maturation rates characterize human ontogeny when compared with chimpanzees. If mandibular ontogeny is considered alone, a paradox was found. Whereas growth maturation proceeded in an expected trajectory continuously approximating 100% adult mean size, developmental maturity was different. After M1-eruption in both species the morphological distance, which had increased before, became reduced again, and reached adult mean shape in a second developmental peak. Such a tendency was found in humans and chimpanzees. This indicates that both size and shape maturation must be considered to understand the complexity of postnatal mandibular ontogeny.