Kristen Hawkes, Distinguished Professor, Anthropology Department, University of Utah

Title: Grandmothers and human evolution

Abstract:
The Grandmother Hypothesis may explain why senescence slowed in our
lineage but female fertility still ends at about the same age in humans
and great apes. Possible consequences of grandmothering range from
socially precocious infants and distinctive human sociality to patterns of
male competition and pair bonding. Tests of hypotheses about HOW we age
more slowly are uncovering unexpected differences between humans and
chimpanzees.

Faculty Host: Robert Kurzban