A human evolutionary drive

Sep 26, 2007 18:06 GMT  ·  By

Now we know why Barry White was nicknamed "The Walrus of Love". A new research found that men with lower-pitched voices father more children than those with high-pitched voices. Women found in the fertile period seem to select men with low-pitched voices.

Previously, the team led by David Feinberg, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior at McMaster University, revealed that women perceive deeper male voices as sexier, inspiring them dominance, maturity, health and masculinity, whereas men perceive higher-pitch female voices as hot, subordinate, feminine, healthy and younger (thus, in the reproductive period). "While we find in this new study that voice pitch is not related to offspring mortality rates, we find that men with low voice pitch have higher reproductive success and more children born to them.", said Feinberg.

The team investigated the Hadza people of Tanzania, one of the last real Paleolithic stage hunter-gatherers, the last relic of Bushmen in eastern Africa, a window to how humans lived 100,000 years ago.

Hadza females gather plant matters (fruits and others) and dig for tubers, while men hunt animals and collect honey. Marriages are free, men and women choosing their partners at will. Hadza are monogamous, but extra-marital relationships often occur; so does the divorce. The researchers gathered data from 49 men and 52 women aged 18 to 55.

"I went to nine different camps and I'd just get them to come into my Land Rover and record them saying the word 'Hujambo', which means 'hello', into a microphone. I then analysed the voice and pitch, and compared it with the person's reproductive history - how many children they had had and how many were still surviving." said co-author Coren Apicella, from the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.

As Hadza are unaware of modern birth control methods, the team was able to assess that men who have lower pitched voices fathered more children than those with higher pitched voices. "Baritone" males had about two more children on average than squeaky ones. "If our ancestors went through a similar process, this could be one reason why men's and women's voices sound different." said Feinberg.

"Deep tones are suggestive of increased testosterone levels, which could lead females to perceive such men as better hunters and therefore better providers", Apicella told the BBC.

"Or it could be that men with deeper voices simply start reproducing earlier. We really don't know what is behind this yet. It's possible that vocal dimorphism has evolved over thousands of years, partly due to mate selection. Perhaps at one time, men and women's voices were closer in pitch than they are today.", said Apicella.

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