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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Pygmies' Small Size Linked to Short Life Spans


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An Aeta shaman plays a bamboo harp in a ritual to exorcise the spirit of death.

The Aeta and other pygmies are smaller in stature because they tend to live very short lives, a new study says. The authors argue that evolutionary pressure—not poor diet—means that the energy needed to grow has been redirected toward early reproduction.

Photograph courtesy Rodolph Schlaepfer