http://www.sciencema...ter-also-fatter
"Humans are the highest energy apes, making us smarter—but also fatter
... humans are the Energizer Bunnies of the primate world. That’s the conclusion of a new study that, for the first time, measures precisely how many calories humans and apes burn each day. Compared with chimpanzees and other apes, our revved-up internal engines burn calories 27% faster, according to a paper in Nature this week. This higher metabolic rate equips us to quickly fuel energy-hungry brain cells, sustaining our bigger brains. And lest we run out of gas when food is short, the study also found that humans are fatter than other primates, giving us energy stores to draw on in lean times."
This article may give a wrong impression that humans burn more energy than other mammals, because it does not put this new finding in the perspective of the 2014 study by an affiliated group, namely:
"Humans, chimpanzees, baboons, and other primates expend only half the calories we'd expect for a mammal. To put that in perspective, a human - even someone with a very physically active lifestyle - would need to run a marathon each day just to approach the average daily energy expenditure of a mammal their size."
Primates: Now with only half the calories!
http://www.eurekaler...z-pnw011314.php
Here is the original,though alas, it's behind the paywall: Metabolic acceleration and the evolution of human brain size and life history, 2016. http://www.nature.co...ature17654.html
PS
but here is the 2014 paper:
Primate energy expenditure and life history, 2014
"Specifically, we show that primates’ remarkably low metabolic rates account for their distinctively slow rates of growth, reproduction, and aging."
http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC3910615/
Edited by xEva, 05 May 2016 - 01:30 AM.
