RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPiTER

Neoteny

Today’s lesson is on neoteny. Neoteny is an important concept that you should familiarize yourself with. It refers to the biological retention of juvenile physiological and morphological characteristics, post sexual maturation. WTF?

For example, wolves are wild, violent predators that do not take well to domestic confinement. Dogs on the other hand, do very well with this life. Dogs were bred from wolves. How did this happen? The answer is that wolves were selectively bred for juvenile traits. What we have today are essentially full grown wolf puppies. They remain immature their entire lives, the genetic triggers that turn them into pure predatory, pack animals, antagonistic to domestic life never going off.

It’s been proposed that humans are neotenized apes. To illustrate this point, look at this famous image of a juvenile and an adult chimp. At some point, chimps stop learning, their brains stop growing and their backs arch downward. Basically, their jaws grow stronger and their craniums stay the same. Humans on the other hand, don’t suffer this sad fate. It’s argued by some that we remain in the juvenile stage into adulthood. We remain upright as well as sporting big brains and an eagerness to learn.

This theory of human evolution is not without its detractors… but I’ll let you read up on all that on your own.