The long childhood characteristic of our species is hypothesized to have evolved for learning complex foraging skills. This episode features Dr. Ilaria Pretelli, who investigates the connection between the development of foraging proficiency and the complexity of the foraging niche. Using published records of child and adolescent foragers from 28 different societies, Dr. Pretelli explores how skill-intensive different resources are and assess whether children’s proficiency increases more slowly for these resources.

The discussion reveals that foraging returns for more skill-intensive and difficult-to-extract resources like tubers and game increase slowly, with peak productivity reached only in adulthood. In contrast, returns for easier-to-extract resources like fruit and fish/shellfish increase rapidly during childhood, achieving adult levels of productivity by adolescence.

Dr. Pretelli's findings support the hypothesis that long childhoods evolved to allow extended periods for learning to extract complex resources characteristic of the human foraging niche. Join us in this episode as we delve into the intricate relationship between human development and the acquisition of crucial survival skills.

Key Words: Human Development, Foraging Skills, Childhood Learning, Niche Complexity, Skill-intensive Resources, Foraging Returns, Evolution.

Foraging complexity and the evolution of childhood https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn9889