Author:
Eriksson A. W.,Abbott C.,Kostense P. J.,Fellman J. O.
Abstract
In each species, natural selection has resulted in an optimal litter size, to ensure the largest average number of surviving offspring and the lowest maternal mortality. The terrestrial insectivores from which the primates evolved had large litters. It has been argued that in primates adaptation to an arboreal mode of life led to a reduction of litter size to a single offspring because of the difficulty of producting and caring for a large litter in a tree [6]. A recent critical survey of the literature indicates that twinning frequency in most nonhuman primates is lower than in man [20].There are clear ethnogeographic differences in the incidence of human twinning. Among peoples of Eastern Asia, multiple maternities are rare; in Japan for instance, the twinning rate is only 3-7 per mill, according both to the official statistics and hospital records. These low rates seem not to be caused by the facts that it is customary in Japan to have children very early in life or that twin births were at one time viewed with displeasure and concealed, or sometimes twins were even killed in some areas [21].In hospital series among some Negro tribes almost 10 times higher twinning frequencies than among Japanese have been reported e.g. the Yorubas in western Nigeria with values above 60 per mill [24]. However, where national birth statistics of Blacks are available, twinning is lower, e.g. in U.S.A. 13-15 per mill [1].
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Reference32 articles.
1. Statistical Models for the Twinning Rate
2. Hereditary and environmental factors in twinning
3. Twinning in relation to the marital status of the mother;Eriksson;Acta Genet (Basel),1967
4. Variations in the human twinning rate;Eriksson;Acta Genet Stat Med,1962
Cited by
16 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献