Why is it that a baby chimpanzee skull is more similar took human skull than that of the adult chimpanzee
- It is mainly based on the rate of development of adult characters during the evolution from ape-man to human. This involved prolonging and slowing down the growth of the body so that it still looked like a baby even when it is an adult.
- The genes that affect the rate of growth and development of characters have slowed down tremendously in us as compared to our ancestors.
- Hence adult human skull looks like or is equivalent to the skull of baby chimpanzee as the latter mature much faster than humans.
- Retention of juvenile features in adult forms is termed as Neoteny.