Answer :
Final answer:
The combination of a large brain and a narrow pelvis in humans leads to differences in growth and development, including a longer gestation period for humans.
Explanation:
The combination of a large brain and a narrow pelvis in humans has significant implications for growth and development, particularly when compared to apes. The concept of encephalization, an evolutionary increase in the complexity or relative size of the brain, has led to humans possessing significantly larger brains compared to body size than apes.
The narrow human pelvis, a consequence of bipedalism or walking upright, presents a complication during childbirth due to the balance between making childbirth feasible and maintaining efficiency in bipedal locomotion. This has led to humans giving birth to 'neonates', or infants that are more immature at birth.
Due to the constraint of the narrow birth canal, human infants are born earlier in their developmental stage compared to apes, hence, they have a longer postnatal growth period and slower maturation rate.
Hence, the implications of a large brain and narrow pelvis in humans include a longer gestation period, slower physical maturation, and greater child dependency compared to apes. This is also supported by the expensive tissue hypothesis which suggests a trade-off between the brain and the digestive system development in response to dietary changes over time in human evolution.
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