Why Are Pygmies So Short? A Defense of Migliano's Hypothesis

African pygmy groups have undergone population bottlenecks, with East African pygmies decreasing by up to 95% between 250 and 2,500 years ago; they have been in contact with farmers, leading to loss of their original languages and to increased gene flow (Patin et al. 2009). [...] although recent soc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Human biology 2010-02, Vol.82 (1), p.109-113
Main Authors:	Migliano, Andrea Bamberg, Vinicius, Lucio, Lahr, Marta Mirazón
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	African Continental Ancestry Group - genetics Age Animals Anthropological analysis Anthropometry Asian Continental Ancestry Group - genetics Biological Evolution Body Height - genetics Body size Confidence intervals Correlations Data collection Death Demographic aspects Demography Ethnic groups Evolutionary theories Fertility Fertility, Human Human biology Humans Hypothesis Lahr, Marta Mirazón Letter to the Editor Life Morphology Mortality Natural history Pain Physiological aspects Pygmies Reference Values Sample size Short stature Social evolution Stature, Short to the Editor Weights and measures
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Summary:	African pygmy groups have undergone population bottlenecks, with East African pygmies decreasing by up to 95% between 250 and 2,500 years ago; they have been in contact with farmers, leading to loss of their original languages and to increased gene flow (Patin et al. 2009). [...] although recent sociocultural changes affect most small-scale societies, the fact that African pygmies (treated separately or as regional groups) and Philippine pygmies show higher mortality rates than other populations argues in favor of our hypothesis. [...] we do not think that a qualitative quote on the "cultural representation" of pygmies as "highly fertile" counts as evidence against our quantitative analyses of virtually all available data on pygmies (as a note, high fertility rates are compatible with our hypothesis; see our later point).
ISSN:	0018-7143 1534-6617 1534-6617