Why are humans one of the only mammals that don’t have fur all over their skin. What’s the advantage?
In: 125
The ancestors of modern humans did have fur, and technically modern day humans also have fur, or more specifically the remnants of fur. There’s many pros and cons to having fur and not having fur but broadly speaking over the majority of humans’ evolution the need to cool down became more important than the need to stay warm. Fur’s main purpose is as an insulator that helps keep the body warm, but it makes cooling down difficult. Humans evolved mainly in Africa where there’s a hot climate, and we’ve evolved to be able to run for sustained periods of time. Thus sweating won out as a cooling method. Fur is counterproductive to cooling down and also decreases the cooling efficiency of sweating, thus we’ve mostly done away with fur. That’s not to say however we don’t technically still have it. All humans still have hair all over their bodies, on some more prominent than others. It’s just not as logn and dense as it is in other animals like primates.
Latest Answers