Data from: Comparative analysis of animal growth: a primate continuum revealed by a new dimensionless growth rate coefficient

The comparative analysis of animal growth still awaits full integration
into life history studies, partially due to the difficulty of defining a
comparable measure of growth rate across species. Using growth data from
50 primate species, we introduce a modified ‘general growth model’ and a
dimensionless growth rate coefficient β that controls for size scaling and
phylogenetic effects in the distribution of growth rates. Our results
contradict the prevailing idea that slow growth characterizes primates as
a group: the observed range of β values shows that not all primates grow
slowly, with galago species exhibiting growth rates similar or above the
mammalian average, while other strepsirrhines and most New World monkeys
show limited reduction in growth rates. Low growth rate characterizes apes
and some papionines. Phylogenetic regressions reveal associations between
β and life history variables, providing tests for theories of primate
growth evolution. We also show that primate slow growth is an exclusively
postnatal phenomenon. Our study exemplifies how the dimensionless approach
promotes the integration of growth rate data into comparative life history
analysis, and demonstrates its potential applicability to other cases of
adaptive diversification of animal growth patterns.

动物生长的比较分析尚未完全整合到生活史研究（life history studies）中，部分原因在于难以定义跨物种的可比生长率指标。基于50种灵长类物种（primate species）的生长数据，我们提出了改进的通用生长模型（general growth model）以及无量纲生长率系数（growth rate coefficient）β，该系数可在生长率分布中控制体型缩放与系统发育效应（phylogenetic effects）。我们的结果与“缓慢生长是灵长类群体特征”这一主流观点相悖：观测到的β值范围表明，并非所有灵长类生长缓慢——婴猴属物种的生长率与哺乳动物平均值相当或更高，而其他原猴亚目物种及多数新大陆猴的生长率降低程度有限。低生长率是类人猿和部分狒狒族（papionines）的特征。系统发育回归（phylogenetic regressions）分析揭示了β与生活史变量（life history variables）之间的关联，为灵长类生长进化理论提供了检验依据。我们还发现，灵长类的缓慢生长完全是一种产后现象（postnatal phenomenon）。我们的研究例证了无量纲方法（dimensionless approach）如何推动生长率数据整合到比较生活史分析中，并展示了其在动物生长模式适应性多样化（adaptive diversification）其他案例中的潜在适用性。