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We don’t *need* to, per se, but it’s a convenient and relatively hygienic way to remove poop particles that stick around after the deed is done.
Not doing so leads to rashes and itchyness, and if you’ve ever seen a dog or cat drag its ass across your carpet, you know that we’re not the only species who deals with that particular problem.
Because our bodies are adapted to bipedalism, putting our anus out of reach of our tongues.
A big item here is our huge butts. Humans have a ridiculously huge butts for our size which is actually a major advantage. Our butts are gigantic muscles that allow for distance running unlike any other creature, literally no other animal can run for distance like a human can.
Having these rockin’ cans means we get dirty butts that need to be cleaned after poopin’. Unlike other animals we prefer not to lick our butts clean, but we still prefer clean butts over the alternative, hence wiping.
But for real, if you look at other animals you’ll notice as a general concept that they can poop without get their skin nearly as dirty as humans can. We evolved to poop in a sort of a crutching position which naturally spreads ’em and helps with cleaning but as a society we generally use sitting positions which means dirty cheeks that need to be wiped.
You can rub your butt on the carpet, instead. Would you?
As a child I spent time near cows, I’ve owned a few dogs, and have spent more time at zoos than is probably normal. In my limited experience your statement is not true. I’ve seen many a cow, known more than one dog, and witnessed various species of zoological captives whose bum needed a good once over.
Some dogs, of course, do wipe their ass; dragging it in the grass if you’re lucky and on your carpets if you are not. One particular dog I had was fastidious about getting a “good wipe” in, if there remained a feeling of “insufficient ejection” after a poo.
I don’t disagree with everyone else, but I think they are missing a huge point… the modern diet.
Take our dogs as an example. They tend to have fairly firm but consistent poops but we feed them the exact same thing every time that is balanced for their needs (in general). If you or I ate that way we would probably have very little wiping needs as well. And also like us, if they get to eat a whole pizza they can have the runs or be backed up and probably could use some wiping.
As omnivores we evolved to eat whatever we could get our hands on and digest though, so our ancestors likely had times of needing to wipe as well, even when eating ‘naturally.’
I for one, am really appreciative to live in the time of soft and abundant toilet papers… oh and well after they became ‘splinter free.’
Humans are the only species to use bodywash every day as well. So it’s no surprise that we’re the only species that attempts to clean feces off our butts, as needed.
We are the only species to do a lot of things. If we question each one, it’d take a long time to explain.
To answer your question directly – **we are not the only species that “needs” to use toilet paper.** Ever been on a farm and seen dried poop on the backside of cows/pigs? No ~~animal~~ mammal butt on earth (including humans) is 100% free of poop residue. I’d bet that human butts are cleaner than nearly all other ~~animal~~ mammalian butts.
We’re not the only species that needs to; we’re the only species that does. Other species lick their assholes clean and many will rub their itchy/dirty butts on the ground.
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Sitting is not a anatomically good postion to poop in, a low squat is better. Also our diets play a big part of it, modern processed food being some of the worse, but even ‘natural foods’ are not natural to humans and we can;t break them down fully. There are other factors as well such as being bi-pedal changing our anatomical layout, our high level of cleanliness and approaches to achive it, and societal norms/requirments of civilization (like waste mangment)
Humans havn’t always wiped, and a lot of animals actually do by licking/dragging bum ect.
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