Why is pet skin so loose compared to human?

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Like, when you pet a dog/cat, their skin is sort of looser, they have a scruff of the neck and lots of rolls. But in humans, the skin is tight on the meat, even on the hairy parts like the scalp. Is there a reason for this?

In: Biology

9 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Cats and dogs are predators, but they are also prey animals. Having loose skin means that even if a predator grabs them, their skin is loose enough that they can still have a pretty good range of motion to fight back.

Humans and our recent ape ancestors have had other ways of avoiding predation. Mostly, climbing trees or getting to a high spot, working as a group to fight back, and inventing weapons. In fact, one theory about why human ancestors might have began walking bipedally is because it allowed them to see over the tall grasses in their habitat so they could see predators coming and avoid them.

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