Back to Search
Start Over
Reproduction in the Baka pygmies and drop in their fertility with the arrival of alcohol
- Source :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018.
-
Abstract
- To understand the diversity of human growth and development from an evolutionary point of view, there is an urgent need to characterize the life-history variables of vanishing forager societies. The small body size of the Baka pygmies is the outcome of a low growth rate during infancy. While the ages at sexual maturity, menarche, and first delivery are similar to those in other populations, fertility aspects are unknown. In the Le Bosquet district in Cameroon, thanks to systematic birth records kept from 1980 onwards, we were able to assign ages to individuals with certainty. This study, based on chronological records and on data collected from 2007 to 2017, presents life-history variables related to fertility and mortality among the Baka pygmies: total fertility rate, age-specific fertility rate, completed family size, reproductive span, age at menopause, and infant and juvenile mortality. The Baka present low infant and juvenile mortality, and their fertility pattern differs from that of other forager societies in the higher age-specific fertility rates found in the two lower age classes. Future studies will need to assess whether this particular pattern and the short interbirth interval are related to highly cooperative childrearing, which in the Baka is associated with slow growth. The fertility rate has fallen drastically since 2011, and this matches the arrival of cheap alcohol in the community. Our data provide a first-hand record of the impact of alcohol on fertility in a hunter-gatherer society which appears to be seriously compromising the survival of the Baka.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
0301 basic medicine
Future studies
Adolescent
media_common.quotation_subject
Total fertility rate
Age at menopause
Black People
Fertility
Biology
03 medical and health sciences
Infant Mortality
Humans
Juvenile
0601 history and archaeology
Cameroon
Child
media_common
060101 anthropology
Multidisciplinary
Alcoholic Beverages
Infant
06 humanities and the arts
Alcoholism
030104 developmental biology
PNAS Plus
Fertility pattern
Child, Preschool
Child Mortality
Menarche
Female
Birth records
Demography
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10916490 and 00278424
- Volume :
- 115
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....89282f9cecf6d7a8bb0d73e2b964e3ab