HUMAN LIFE HISTORY

POSTNATAL DEVELOPMENT

LIFE HISTORY
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Life history:

The entire sequence of behavioral, physiological, and

morphological changes that an organism passes through
during its development from conception to death

One way to define the stages of the life cycle is by

biological characteristics:

Changes in the rate of growth

The onset of sexual maturation (puberty)

EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN LIFE CYCLE

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Social mammals

Infant
2. Juvenile
3. Adult
1.

Human

1. Infant
2. Childhood
3. Juvenile

4. Adolescence
5. Adult

The evolution of hominid life history

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Primate life histories in

comparative perspective
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Feeding and reproductive specializations of

the genus Homo
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1.
2.
3.
4.

Extended period of off-spring dependency

Delayed reproduction
A short duration of breast-feeding
Menopause

1. INFANCY
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The period when the mother provides all or some

nourishment to her offspring via lactation ends when

the child is weaned

In pre-industrialized societies : 36 months

Female primates cannot reproduce a new infant

successfully if they are still nursing their current infant

However, apes and traditional human societies have a shorter

infancy and shorter birth interval problem of child care
extended family group

Animal developmental strategy

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Altricial

1.

Relatively undeveloped at birth

Cannot feed themselves, move about, or thermoregulate, and
their visual systems may not be fully developed
Require intensive parental care
Exp: marsupials, songbirds, bats, rodents, carnivores and
humans

2. Precocial

Young are ready to function as semi-independent animals

soon after birth

Parental care is limited, and in some cases absent

Exp: herbivor mammals

Infant developmental milestones

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2. CHILDHOOD
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The period following weaning, when the youngster still

depends on older people for feeding and protection

Children require specially prepared foods diet low in

total volume but dense in energy, lipids, and proteins

Immaturity of their dentition and digestive tracts

Rapid

growth of their brain

Children are also especially vulnerable to predation and

disease
Ended with eruption of the first permanent molars

and completion of growth of the brain 5.5 - 6.5 years

Hominoid developmental landmarks

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Growth curves for different body tissues

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Brain development
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3. JUVENILE
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Prepubertal individuals
No longer dependent on their mothers (parents) for
survival
Have the physical and cognitive abilities to provide much
of their own food and to protect themselves from
predation and disease
In girls, the juvenile period ends at about the age of 10.2
years

4. ADOLESCENCE
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Begins with puberty (sexual maturation)

Development of the secondary sexual characteristics

and the onset of adult patterns of socio-sexual and

economic behavior
Girls and boys experience a rapid acceleration in the
growth of virtually all skeletal tissue, the
adolescent growth spurt serves as a signal of
maturation

Perubahan karakteristik organ

seksual sekunder
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Breast
Organ genital external
Pubic hair
Facial hair
Axillar hair

Voice change

The development of secondary sexual

characteristics
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Typically divided into 5 stages, known as

tanner staging.
Tanner staging:

Male - Penis and scrotum

Male - Pubic hair
Female - Breast
Female - Pubic hair

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Development of boy external genitalia

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Stage 1: Prepubertal
Stage 2: Enlargement of scrotum and testes;

scrotum skin reddens and changes in texture

Stage 3: Enlargement of penis (length at first);
further growth of testes
Stage 4: Increased size of penis with growth in
breadth and development of glans; testes and
scrotum larger, scrotum skin darker
Stage 5: Adult genitalia

Breast development
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Stage 1: Prepubertal
Stage 2: Breast bud stage with

elevation of breast and

papilla; enlargement of areola
Stage 3: Further enlargement
of breast and areola; no
separation of their contour
Stage 4: Areola and papilla
form a secondary mound
above level of breast
Stage 5: Mature stage:
projection of papilla only,
related to recession of areola

Boys and girls - pubic hair

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Stage 1: Prepubertal (can see velus hair similar to

abdominal wall)
Stage 2: Sparse growth of long, slightly pigmented
hair, straight or curled, at base of penis or along labia
Stage 3: Darker, coarser and more curled hair,
spreading sparsely over junction of pubes
Stage 4: Hair adult in type, but covering smaller area
than in adult; no spread to medial surface of thighs
Stage 5: Adult in type and quantity, with horizontal
distribution ("feminine")

Urutan perkembangan karakter

seksual perempuan
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Urutan perkembangan karakter

seksual laki-laki
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Growth
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There are four characteristic stages of growth from

birth to adult:

Rapid growth in infancy and early childhood

Slow, steady growth in middle childhood
Rapid growth during puberty
Gradual slowing down of growth in adolescence until adult
height is reached

Factors influencing growth

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Genetic

Environmental
Nutrition

Infectious

diseases
Socio-economic status

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Human growth curve

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VELOCITY CURVES
of growth in height for healthy girls and boys
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Peak velocity

Growth spurt

Velocity curves for

weight growth in the mouse
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Baboon crown-rump length velocity

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 Before peak height velocity is reached, girls develop

pubic hair and fat deposits on breasts, buttocks, and

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thighs
About a year after peak height velocity, girls
experience menarche

However, most girls experience 1-3 years of an-ovulatory

menstrual cycles following menarche girls should wait up to
a decade from the time of menarche to reach full
reproductive maturity

Boys become fertile well before they assume adult

size and the physical characteristics of men.

They begin producing sperm at age of 13.4 years however,

the sperm of younger adolescents are not motile, or do not
have the endurance to swim to an egg in the fallopian tubes

Menarche
age
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Secular trend
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Children today on average are more

taller and heavier and mature earlier

than children several generation ago
Positive

secular trend

Negative secular trend

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Secular trend in height of females at 8

years of age
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Secular trend in menarche age

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MENOPAUSE
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Menopause is a virtually universal human female

characteristic 50 years of age

Sudden or gradual cessation of the menstrual cycle
subsequent to the loss of ovarian function
No wild-living species are known to commonly
exhibit reproductive cessation

The evolution of human female life history

emphasizing the post-reproductive stage
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Aging

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The accumulation of changes in a person over time

Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional

process of physical, psychological, and social change

Senescence is the state or process of ageing
irreversible series of changes ends in
death

The declining ability to respond to stress

Increasing homeostatic imbalance
Increased risk of disease

Cellular senescence has been attributed to the

shortening of telomeres

Age-dependent changes in some anatomical &

physiological factors in humans
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Telomere shortening
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Life expectancy
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The expected number of years of life remaining at a

given age
Reflects not only the provision of high-quality
health services, but also economic, social and
environmental factors
Most of our pre-human ancestors were not long lived
Longevity gave us the gift of time to learn new things
and develop new skills, also gave us the time to
transfer this cultural knowledge to our offspring and
so expand our cultural evolution to the symbolic
level

World life expectancy map (2004)

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Life expectancy at birth for males and females

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Maximum Recorded Life Spans for

Selected Mammals
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