Ontogeny, Phylogeny, and Heterochrony in Old World Monkeys

与其他哺乳动物相比，灵长类的生长和发育模式(个体发育)似乎非常不寻常。不幸的是，支配这些模式的原则仍然鲜为人知。因此，这项研究项目对一组密切相关的非洲和亚洲猴子物种(狒狒、山竹、山竹和猕猴)的生长和发育进行了综合研究。该项目旨在拓宽、提炼和澄清我们对人类个体发育的看法。这项研究将有助于揭示大脑发育和进化之间的联系，这些联系似乎在人类进化过程中发挥了关键作用。此外，还将完成人类和非人类灵长类个体发育的详细比较。因此，将有可能确定人类是否在表现出青春期骨骼生长激增方面是独一无二的，解决了人类进化论中一个长期存在的争论。为了达到这些目标，本研究对化石材料、活体圈养标本和野外拍摄的标本进行了个体发育的比较分析。这项研究的很大一部分集中在头骨和骨骼系统的生长和发育上。此外，该项目还对生长激素进行了创新性的分析，使用的是圈养的狒狒和芒果鸟群体的数据。荷尔蒙分析能够评估生长控制的进化变化。还将探索其他几个研究领域。例如，这项研究评估发育数据与分类问题的相关性，并对生长和发育进行定量遗传分析。最后，这项研究具有直接的生物医学应用，因为狒狒和曼加比是人类疾病的重要动物模型。

Patterns of primate growth and development (ontogeny) appear to be highly unusual relative to other mammals. Unfortunately, the principles that govern these patterns remain poorly understood. Therefore, this research project conducts an integrated study of growth and development in a group of closely-related African and Asian monkey species (baboons, mandrills, mangabeys, and macaques). The project is designed to broaden, refine, and clarify our perspective on human ontogeny. This research will help reveal connections between brain development and evolution that appear to have played a pivotal role over the course of human evolution. In addition, detailed comparisons between human and nonhuman primate ontogeny will be accomplished. Consequently, it will be possible to establish whether or not humans are unique in exhibiting an adolescent skeletal growth spurt, resolving a long standing debate in theories of human evolution. In order to attain these goals, the research conducts comparative analyses of ontogeny in fossil materials, living captive specimens, and wild-shot specimens. A substantial portion of the study focuses on growth and development of the skull and skeletal system. In addition, the project undertakes innovative analyses of growth hormones using data from captive colonies of baboons and mangabeys. Hormonal analyses enable assessments of evolutionary changes in growth control. Several other areas of research also will be explored. For example, the study evaluates the relevance of developmental data to taxonomic questions, and conducts quantitative genetic analyses of growth and development. Finally, the study has direct biomedical applications because baboons and mangabeys are important animal models of human diseases.