Neoteny - in Humans - Between Races and Among Primates

Between Races and Among Primates

Stephen Jay Gould objected to the ranking of races as more or less neotenous. But Gould argued that if one used the terms set forth by 1920s proponents of racial neoteny, "Asians", not whites, are "clearly" the most neotenized human race.

Ashley Montagu mirrored this statement when he stated that the "Mongoloid skull, whether Chinese or Japanese" is the most neotenized human skull. Ashley Montagu further claimed that the "European" skull was less neotenized than the Mongoloid, with the "Australian Aborigine" skull less neotenized than the European and the Neanderthal skull even less neotenized than the Australian Aborigine skull. Ashley Montagu claimed that humans have more neotenized skulls than Australopithecus.

Delbert D. Thiessen claimed that Homo sapiens are more neotenized than Homo erectus, Homo erectus was more neotenized than Australopithicus, Great Apes are more neotenized than Old World monkeys and Old World monkeys are more neotenized than New World monkeys.

Nancy Lynn Barrickman claimed Brian T. Shea found by multivariate analysis that Bonobos are more neotenized than the common chimpanzee, taking into account such features as the proportionately long torso length of the Bonobo. Ashley Montagu believed that part of the differences seen in the morphology of "modernlike types of man" can be attributed to different rates of "neotenous mutations" in their early populations.