Given the likelihood in nature of being attacked and wounded, how come they never came to have more hardened skin to prevent being penetrated so easily?
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Humans have pretty soft skin, too. There’s a video going around of a bear landing what is clearly a fairly soft “scratch” on a man’s belly and the attack tears some pretty nasty gashes in him.
A lot of mammals have softer skin than humans because they have a layer of fur to protect it. Fur provides more protection than you might think.
But if you’re looking for the most direct, most objective answer: It’s because soft skin hasn’t hindered their ability to procreate. Evolution doesn’t aim for “best,” it just aims for “good enough.” Soft skin requires less resources for the body to create than thick, hardened hides, so if a species can survive without the extra resource expenditure, evolution won’t steer them that way.
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