Humans exhibit a range of life history traits distinct from great apes, including a prolonged childhood characterized by alloparental care and enhanced social learning.
Dental growth patterns in fossil hominins provide insight into human maturation, illustrating a slowdown compared to great apes which aligns with the pace of cerebral and somatic development.
The dental evidence from Australopithecus afarensis indicates it followed an ape-like maturation schedule, yet its brain growth represented the early signs of prolonged postnatal development.
Fossilized teeth offer crucial developmental proxies that allow researchers to estimate ages at death and calibrate growth trajectories, revealing the unique human growth pattern.
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