What is the benefit or reason that most mammals don’t sweat like us?

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Very few mammals sweat all over, but is there a benefit/reason why sweat is not used and instead other cooling functions (panting, flapping ears, wallowing) is used instead?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Sweat from apocrine glands evolved first in early mammals with the apparition of hairs. Their main utility is to feed the bacteria that produces the pheromones to attract mates.

Milk glands and ear wax glands evolved from them.

Eccrine glands evolved from them too in the palm and sole to increase friction and enhance grip.

Afterwards, primate evolved to use the eccrine glands to cool and got eccrine glands all over their body.

Some other animals, like horses, evolved to use apocrine sweat for cooling too.

This could be useful for other animals too, but evolution is random and there’s no guarantee for any animal to get any feature even if it’s useful. They just never got the mutations that allow primates and some other animals like horses to use sweat to effectively cool down.

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