Clothing (evolution)

[Wandered Off]

Originally Posted by Willamena

Hmm... I wonder if I dress up in an orange suit...

That ought to settle once and for all that you're evolved enough to wear clothing, what with your large brain and spiffy opposable thumbs.

[Willamena]

Evolved enough to wear clothing, not evolved enough that people will buy my paintings on E-bay.

[logician]

We're one of the few mammals that doesn't have natural insulation for cold (or hot) weather, so we needed to supplement it with clothing of some sort. Otherwise we would freeze to death in the colder climates in short order.

[Francine]

Originally Posted by logician

We're one of the few mammals that doesn't have natural insulation for cold (or hot) weather, so we needed to supplement it with clothing of some sort.

The reason we don't have natural insulation is because our niche was to run down animals who do have fur in the hot African savannah, taking advantage of their relative inability to reject heat.

[Azakel]

Originally Posted by logician

We're one of the few mammals that doesn't have natural insulation for cold (or hot) weather, so we needed to supplement it with clothing of some sort. Otherwise we would freeze to death in the colder climates in short order.

Well one thing logician has said that I agree with(now it the end of the world hehe).

[crystalonyx]

Originally Posted by Francine

The reason we don't have natural insulation is because our niche was to run down animals who do have fur in the hot African savannah, taking advantage of their relative inability to reject heat.

This was not the natural progression of events. We didn't lose our hair because we could hunt down animals with hair(bears and lions can do that), we lost our hair through evolutionary and genetic processes, and then after that loss realized we needed additional insulation for our bodies.

[Francine]

Originally Posted by crystalonyx

This was not the natural progression of events. We didn't lose our hair because we could hunt down animals with hair(bears and lions can do that), we lost our hair through evolutionary and genetic processes, and then after that loss realized we needed additional insulation for our bodies.

I've been trying to explain this, and it's not being understood at all.

Humanity began as a furry ape that lived on the hot African savannah. We discovered that we could pick one animal, such as a gazelle, and chase it down by marathon running. The animal would ever flee our hunters with bursts of speed, but it had to stop to cool down. Our hunters used their ever-enlarging brain to track that one animal, and their bodies changed to facilitate long-distance running on two legs. Eventually the heat piled up, and that gazelle collapsed. Our hunters finished it off, and walked the carcass back to the camp. The point is we lost our hair through natural selection based on our niche, and when we went to colder climes, we needed to wear the skins of those gazelles we ran down.

[crystalonyx]

Originally Posted by Francine

I've been trying to explain this, and it's not being understood at all.

Humanity began as a furry ape that lived on the hot African savannah. We discovered that we could pick one animal, such as a gazelle, and chase it down by marathon running. The animal would ever flee our hunters with bursts of speed, but it had to stop to cool down. Our hunters used their ever-enlarging brain to track that one animal, and their bodies changed to facilitate long-distance running on two legs. Eventually the heat piled up, and that gazelle collapsed. Our hunters finished it off, and walked the carcass back to the camp. The point is we lost our hair through natural selection based on our niche, and when we went to colder climes, we needed to wear the skins of those gazelles we ran down.

I don't think you can hunt a kill a gazelle by marathon running, gazelles are way too fast and can run for long distances themselves. Mankind hunts deer-like animals thru stealth and stalking tactics, there's no way we can outrun them.

[Francine]

Originally Posted by crystalonyx

I don't think you can hunt a kill a gazelle by marathon running, gazelles are way too fast and can run for long distances themselves. Mankind hunts deer-like animals thru stealth and stalking tactics, there's no way we can outrun them.

Okay, I'm going to try this one more time, and if I doesn't work then I will give up.

Mankind lost its fur coat to facilitate marathon running in hot African climes. Animals with fur coats can run faster than man for brief periods, but they must stop to cool down. It turns out that an animal not burdened by a fur coat, and which has a physique tailored for running, and which can run non-stop for twenty miles in the noontime sun in Africa can overtake even the fastest gazelle if he has sufficient tracking skills (ie the brains) to make sure the one he's still chasing in the afternoon is the same one he picked out in the morning. The gazelle finally drops from the inability to shed heat. The sweaty man trots up to the gazelle none the worse for wear, kills it with a stone knife, and drags it back to camp by supper time.