Fur?

[syo]

Why humans lost their fur?

Did they ever have fur?

 

[SalixIncendium]

Why humans lost their fur?

Did they ever have fur?

I would guess that their bodies adapted as they began to wear clothing.

I'm probably wrong though. Never really studied the reasoning behind it.

 

[viole]

Why humans lost their fur?

Did they ever have fur?

Since we have still goose bumps, i suppose we are, at least genetically, expected to still have fur.

Ciao

- viole

 

[The Hammer]

I think it has something to do with our bodies ability to sweat and thermoregulate during the heat of the day, that allowed us to run long distances in an effort to persistence/endurance hunt. (ie you run an animal to exhaustion, before killing it).

 

[ChristineM]

Why humans lost their fur?

Did they ever have fur?

I understood it to be hair, and we still do have a little. Homo began losing it at the time of homo erectus, throughout their evolution they lost more and more if their body hair.

 

[Nakosis]

Some folks are still pretty furry.

 

[syo]

Some folks are still pretty furry.

Yes, but the man in the picture isn't protected from snow.

 

[Nakosis]

But the more hairless we got, Pagel says, the more attractive it became, and a stretch of hairless hide turned into a potent advertisement of a healthy, parasite-free mate.
Why Did Humans Lose Their Fur? | Science| Smithsonian Magazine.

Perhaps they could see their potential mate was freer of nasty bugs and or skin infections.

 

[Secret Chief]

I understood it to be hair

I know! For a moment I thought "Hurrah we're related to cats!"

 

[Twilight Hue]

Why humans lost their fur?

Did they ever have fur?

Of course. We are apes.

Likely we lost fur as we adopted clothes and the rest is history as already mentioned.


Admittedly I feel we would be a a lot cuter had we kept our coat of fur.

 

[metis]

Why humans lost their fur?

Did they ever have fur?

It appears that most of our early evolution from the ape line mostly occurred in the low-grass savannas in the eastern horn region of Africa, and somewhere along the line we developed sweat glands, which is a mutation of oil glands under the skin that we still have for both purposes.

Therefore, the best way for cooling the body off was having very little hair. However, to protect the skin from harmful rays, dark skin would have to have become the norm.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Why humans lost their fur?

Did they ever have fur?

There is some guessing involved, however anthropologists studying ancient fossils in layers of deposits try to find approximate dates for those fossils and try to determine the climate and environments they are in. Many believe that while every mutation is unlikely to benefit any creature, there occasionally is a mutation which is fortunate. Hair loss is both harmful and also beneficial. It protects skin, but it also holds in heat. They think that the hair loss mutation was beneficial because there happened to be a need for our bodies to cool quickly.

One theory I heard about in a documentary said that because of hair loss, humans could pursue furry carnivores for long distances, tiring them out and killing them. So for example humans, though they were weaker than lions, could hunt lions by making lions run until they were exhausted. Humans could stay cool much more easily, but the lions would overheat and become easy to kill. The documentary shows a demonstration of how modern hunters use the same trick.

 

[Valjean]

Of course. We are apes.

Likely we lost fur as we adopted clothes and the rest is history as already mentioned.


Admittedly I feel we would be a a lot cuter had we kept our coat of fur.

Chimps, our closest cousins, aren't exactly furry.
Think what a matted, salty mess a furry, sweaty human would be after a dash across the hot, African savanna in pursuit of dinner.