ANTH 3460 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Jeanne Calment, Biodemography, Life Table
26 Aug 2016
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Anth 3460 06/11/15 - aging: evolutionary and biocultural perspectives (biodemography of. The central aim of the biodemography of aging is to discover a biological pattern to the dying out of individuals within a population. It is concerned with providing a biological rationale for the timing and causes of death in humans and other sexually reproducing species. Reproductive cycle is quite constrained when compared to other primates. In most other species most of their life is spent reproductively viable. Jeanne calment (1875-1997) oldest provable woman. Why not immortality: the price we pay for sex is death reproduction generates the new bodies needed to survive in a hostile environment death is the way nature discards the old, worn-out bodies. Human bodies as genetic transport vehicles: humans are directed to grow, develop, and reproduce so that the genes hitching a ride can move onto the next generation. Genes are immortal, not the bodies that carry them.
