Dabo Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 Can someone adequately explain the reason hairlessness was selected FOR in humans, and against in all other land mammals?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queso Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 We started to utilize warmth,and got warmer. man we got warmer thousands of years ago.and thousands of years ago is when we started to lose hair. AND NOW THAT EVERYBODY SHAVES ALL OF THEIR HAIR EVERYWHEREWE'RE PROBABLY GOING TO EVOLVE INTO COMPLETELY NAKED FREAKY ALIENS LIKE SOME OF US ALREADY ARE. Yeah man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queso Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 cavemen even knew they could kill an animal for some skin, for some warmth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffy Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 Orby's got several good reasons. Man evolved in the hot savannah of eastern africa, where a thick pelt is a big disadvantage. Ask Boerseun why he cut off his mullet.... :hihi: Shaaaaaving cream, be nice and clean,Buffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racoon Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 well, once humans walked upright, well most humans anyways, There was less actual surface area that needed to be protected by the sun.. I glimpsed on the Tube, babysitting my nephew, THAT Monkey with a large flat Probiscus of a nose.. probisic monkey or somewhuh?Its named after Greek Probiscus... Anyways, one possible reason for having that large hairless nose is to release heat more effectively...while attracting the babe monkeys :) Of course without hair you're more succeptable to the frigid...:eek2: Drip Curl Magic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queso Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 HAHAHAracoon and your methods of wannabe AII love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ughaibu Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 Dabo: The aquatic ape theory offers an alternative view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drip Curl Magic Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 yeahhh, walking up-right, fires, clothing. It all contributed. sort of off topic, but: I've always wondered why males have hair on their face... and most women have such an absence of hair in general. There is such a huge difference in the ammount of hair a woman has and the ammount of hair a male has. I'm not looking for the chemical difference between males and females. what was the evolutionary reason for males having more hair? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boerseun Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 Good points, all. Mankind have shed its hair because of our unspecialized design. This means that we can work hard in the sun, where most other animals will go and lie in the shade and wait for it to get cooler, by radiating heat from our muscles effectively through our naked skins. And conversely, we can colonize the frozen wastes of the far north by killing other animals and assuming their pelts. So we can basically control both extreme heat and cold through the combination of a hairless skin and a brain to invent clothes. Where we did not lose hair is where we don't have muscles that heat up. Our heads being a case in point, where the hair is beneficial both in heat and cold. Crotches and armpits also don't have muscles that warm up (let's count the number of witty comebacks to that last line...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racoon Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 HAHAHAracoon and your methods of wannabe AII love it. Good. But i would subtract the word w : S - X(w) = cool again? AI can stand for lots of things... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queso Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 Good. But i would subtract the word "wannabe" :) : S - X(w) = cool again? AI can stand for lots of things...including Artificial Insemination as perhaps in your case :eek2: :) :) good guess... seriously. this used to bother me, but meh...just trips me out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racoon Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 ...just trips me out. Me thinks you Untripable :eek2: San Pedro told me so. Ground Control.... pppsssshhhhtttttt... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drip Curl Magic Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 Orby is a trip. That likes to trip and a half. trippy trip, dig? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queso Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 i'm flattered Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigD Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 Can someone adequately explain the reason hairlessness was selected FOR in humans, and against in all other land mammals??It’s worth noting that humans don’t have fewer hairs (and hair follicles) than the other great apes – at least one zoology reference of which I’m aware states that humans actually have slightly more. What distinguishes human hair from that of the other apes is how specialized it is – fine, downy hair over most of our bodies, patches of thick, curly hair in a few places, and long, thick hair on our scalps only. The other apes have much more uniformity in the hair on their heads and bodies. As ughaibu notes, the aquatic ape hypothesis provides an interesting explanation for this. (although the linked to wikipedia article doesn’t mention this) One of the more interesting features of this hypothesis is that it not only addresses why we have less hair on our bodies (the better to wade and swim), but also why we have long hair on our heads (gives babies something above water to cling to). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MortenS Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 I am sort of surprised that nobody has brought up sexual selection as a potential selection mechanism for the evolution of hairlessness in humans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfiniteNow Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 Where we did not lose hair is where we don't have muscles that heat up. Our heads being a case in point, where the hair is beneficial both in heat and cold. Crotches and armpits also don't have muscles that warm up (let's count the number of witty comebacks to that last line...)If there are so many muscles in the back and also peoples ***, then how come hair... Uhhmmm... never mind. :eek2: MortenS is correct about selection. I wonder too if the societal act of clothing ourselves played some role... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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