Table 1.
Early hominid species, existence dates, encephalization and proxy estimates of body mass index (BMI), body surface area (BSA), and resting energy expenditure (REE)
| Taxon | Dates (MY) | Height (m) | Weight (kg) | BMI (kg/m2) | BSA (m2) | REE (kcal/d) | Brain weight (g) | Brain weight/Body weight | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | |||
| Australopithecus afarensis | 3.9-3.0 | 1.51 | 1.05 | 45 | 29 | 19.74 | 26.30 | 1.38 | 0.88 | 1216 | 703 | 434 | 9.6 | 15.0 |
| Australopithecus africanus | 3.0-2.4 | 1.38 | 1.15 | 41 | 30 | 21.53 | 22.68 | 1.24 | 0.95 | 1095 | 762 | 448 | 10.9 | 14.9 |
| Paranthropus boisei | 2.3-1.4 | 1.37 | 1.24 | 49 | 34 | 26.11 | 22.11 | 1.33 | 1.06 | 1175 | 849 | 514 | 10.5 | 15.1 |
| Paranthropus robustus | 1.9-1.4 | 1.32 | 1.10 | 40 | 32 | 22.96 | 26.45 | 1.19 | 0.95 | 1049 | 759 | 523 | 13.1 | 16.3 |
| Homo habilis | 1.9-1.6 | 1.31 | 1.00 | 37 | 32 | 21.56 | 32.00 | 1.14 | 0.88 | 1009 | 708 | 601 | 16.2 | 18.8 |
| Homo rudolfensis | 2.4-1.6 | 1.60 | 1.50 | 60 | 51 | 23.44 | 22.67 | 1.62 | 1.44 | 1433 | 1158 | 736 | 12.3 | 14.4 |
| Homo ergaster | 1.9-1.7 | 1.80 | 1.60 | 66 | 56 | 20.37 | 21.88 | 1.84 | 1.58 | 1625 | 1263 | 849 | 12.9 | 15.2 |
| Homo sapiens | existing | 1.75 | 1.61 | 58 | 49 | 18.94 | 18.90 | 1.71 | 1.50 | 1507 | 1198 | 1350 | 23.3 | 27.6 |
BMI calculated as weight (kg) divided by squared height in meters
BSA is calculated using the formula of DuBois el al.[125] [BSA=weight (kg)0.425 × height (cm)0.725 × 0.007184]
REE calculated using the formula of Roberston and Reid [126] based on BSA and attribution of specific age-energy coefficient. All hominids were assumed to have an age of 25 years. Age Coefficients (AC) were: Male (M) = 36.8; Female (F) = 33.4. The formula is: AC × BSA × 24. Table modified from McHenry et al. (2000) [84] and Aiello et al. (2002) [80]