Why does thirst create the sensation of of feeling parched in our throat? It makes (some) sense that hunger is felt in the stomach but there is no obvious reason why the throat is linked to thirst.
In: Biology
All of our sensations developed long before our intellect, so they’re pretty much foolproof since they needed to make even the dumbest animals do the smart thing. Throat dry? Drink water. Eyelids heavy? Go to sleep. Leg hurts? Keep your weight off.
Does that feeling ever make you want to pour liquid down your throat to soothe it? For most people, the answer would be yes. This would indicate that feeling thirst in one’s throat caused animals who experienced it to be better able to stay hydrated, a pretty valuable survival skill. Over time, this trait gave those animals a slight evolutionary advantage over those who didn’t have such an easy way of motivating themselves to stay hydrated, leading to the trait becoming more and more prevalent in the surviving population.
The reason why WE feel this sensation is because that first animal who gained the trait was either human themselves, or was some non-human ancestor that we eventually evolved from.
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