| Abstract: | Population concern is found not only among modern man, but among primitive peoples and animal groups. Although some researchers object to extrapolating from animal behavior to human behavior, it is still an oft-observed fact that crowding produces fighting, territorial aggression, or other behaviors which disperse the population and relieve the pressures on food and other resources. Female chimpanzees bear offspring at 5-year intervals although they come into estrus yearly. This may be due to the ovulation suppression effects of lactation, which is lengthy among chimps. A similar repression gives humans respite from childbearing. Among primitive peoples similar population control mechanisms are at work. The Rendille camel herders in Kenya tried to limit population by insisting on monogamy and late marriage and killing boys born on Wednesday or younger ones after circumcision of the eldest brother. Among 96 births observed to the Netsilik Eskimos, an anthropologist noted that 38 female babies were left to die from exposure before becoming "people" in a naming ceremony. Cheyenne Indians limited population by insisting a woman should not have another child until her 1st is 10-years old. This required rigorous abstinence. Anthropologist Mary Douglas suggests a group will often define optimal population by perceived scarcity of things that are important to their society. The Pacific islanders of Tikopia strongly disapprove of families with more than 2 or 3 children. This limitation seems due to the limitation of cocoanuts. The Rendille limit population because of their desire to assure enough camels to go around. Researchers have followed with interest the 1st demographic transition of the Kung tribe of Africa. When they were hunter-gathers, women had high status because they provided at least half the food and births were 4-5 years apart because the nourishment level was so low pregnancy did not occur during lactation. Now that they have become farmers women's status has dropped and birthrates have increased. It will be interesting to see if this group undergoes a 2nd transition and starts to limit its population. |
