Date: Wed, 26 Nov 1997 09:55:49 +0100
To: EvolutionLanguage@list.pitt.edu
Subject: Re: EvolLang: Man or Woman?


> From: "Auri"
>
> >From: "Waruno"
> >
> >among children. As a woman would give birth again long before
> >her previous child(ren) reach(es) adulthood, the ratio of
> >number of children to number of women is too high for women
> >alone to care after the children, and sibling hierarchies
> >must take over part of the chores.
>
> It wasn't just the one family. The units were probably either
> extended families or tribes, where children are cared of by
> whoever is there.
Quite right, that's why I was referring to the overall ratio. Some of the women have perhaps 3 to 4 kids, others only one, other still are in advanced stage of pregnancy or stilling. Even collectively, they cannot provide the kind of individual mother-child attention we see in chimps, orangutans and gorillas. In many cultures all over the world one can see children being left to look after themselves for lengthy parts of the day, elder siblings caring for the younger ones. In some child games in some countries, youngsters are permitted to join with the older ones, going through all the motions of running around and getting excited, but you can't "tick" them, and even if you do, they don't become "it". Every once in a while, one of them gets accidentally bumped over and bawls. The game stops, elder sis comes over and caresses and soothes. After that the game can go on again.

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