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仍有待完全融入生命史研究（life history studies），这在一定程度上缘于难以定义跨物种可比的生长速率衡量标准。本研究依托50种灵长类动物的生长数据，提出改良版“通用生长模型（general growth model）”与无量纲生长速率系数β（dimensionless growth rate coefficient β），该系数可控制生长速率分布中的体型缩放与系统发育效应（phylogenetic effects）。本研究结果与“灵长类整体以生长缓慢为特征”的主流观点相悖：观测到的β值范围表明，并非所有灵长类都生长缓慢——婴猴属（galago）物种的生长速率接近甚至高于哺乳动物平均水平，而其他原猴亚目（strepsirrhines）物种与多数新世界猴（New World monkeys）的生长速率仅出现小幅降低。类人猿与部分狒狒类群（papionines）则以低生长速率为典型特征。系统发育回归（phylogenetic regressions）分析显示，β值与生命史变量之间存在显著关联，为灵长类生长演化理论提供了实证检验依据。本研究同时证实，灵长类的生长缓慢现象仅存在于出生后阶段。本研究佐证了无量纲分析方法（dimensionless approach）如何推动生长速率数据整合进比较生命史分析框架，并展示了该方法在其他动物生长模式适应性分化案例中的潜在应用价值。