Why are humans the only animals that need to wipe? Did hunter-gatherers walk with dirty butts?
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Animals wipe their butts as well. With their tongue. That is why they periodically clean their buttholes with their tongue. They are wiping.
But probably yes, between whatever they did for cleaning they likely just had dirty asses. Just like people tended to be much dirtier in the past as well, and improperly cleaned.
We wipe because we can.
Dogs and cats lick their butts clean, or drag them on surfaces. Because as a predator, you really do not want your prey to be able to smell you.
Our ancestors probably used leaves, or washed up in rivers if they had them.
A greater need for that comes with upright posture, other animals don’t have their exit chute buried in butt cheeks which are prone to catching and smearing feces.
That said, we’re not the ONLY ones. There are plenty of species that have intermittent issues with poop clinging to fur, skin, scales or feathers and causing problems. Ever seen a dog drag it’s bottom on the ground or licking itself? Same idea happens in nature as well.
Both of those said: diet and body hair also plays into this. We have nothing like the diet of our ancestors. Even among people today some people have relatively little trouble while others are posting that Parks and Rec meme about the marker.
Our ancestors cleaned with what was available. Leaves, water, sand, a hand if they had to. No one likes diaper rash in any time period.
You ever shit in a squat toilet and eat vegetables? You find pretty quick you barely need to wipe. That’s what hunter gatherers did.
I don’t really know, but you know those blissful shits where you don’t even have to wipe? they probably shat like that normally, they ate a LOT of vegetables and fibers (at least in Ethiopia, where humans are from, western African diets comprise a lot of starches and carbohydrate-rich foods too) and some meat too, also fruit/berries.
Ever seen a hippo shit?
A cow’s backend isn’t the cleanest thing either.
When you drop a log the way human beings evolved to do so (i.e., squatting instead of sitting) there is very little need to wipe, especially if your diet is similar to the diet we evolved to consume. There weren’t a lot of Taco Bells around in prehistoric times.
Our diets and toilets have resulted in the increased need for wiping, or washing if you’re a bidet fan.
We got bad at pooping.
High fibre natural diet and squat posture = mostly clean bumhole. Highly processed diet and seated toilets = Mr Poopy Butthole.
We wipe because we have massive ass cheeks that catch poop. We have such a massive dump truck compared to other animal because we walk on two legs.
Early hominids did have to wipe, and almost definitely did using leaves, barks, or washed in water, because while we only learned about germs and viruses, mankind has known about cleanliness for thousands and thousands of years with a slight break for a few hundred years after the black death because the lack of private bathing facilities led to bathhouses being hotbeds for plague.
Most animals don’t have glutes like people. Humans have big ole dump truck booty’s because we walk upright.
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