Why Humans Lost Their Fur
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One of the biggest unsolved puzzles in the evolution of mankind is why humans were the only primates to lose their 'fur'. Now, two researchers believe it's the same reason athletes shave off their hair - To become more efficient.
However, in the case of the ancient human it was not a vain attempt to win a gold medal, but a necessity, if they wanted to hunt for food. The theory, derived from advanced computer modeling has been proposed by Professor Wilkinson from Liverpool John Moores University and Professor Graeme Ruxton from the University of Glasgow.
The researchers maintain that the earliest upright humans whose bodies were covered with fur, largely walked or ran only for short distances - Maybe to the nearest tree, to escape a wild animal. That's because humans need to sweat in order to go fast for longer distances - Something that was impossible when their bodies were covered with fur.
As they started to become more proficient hunters and began running longer distances in the hot African Savannah to catch their prey, their bodies began to evolve too - Losing the fur slowly, but surely. A similar theory proposed by another scientist in the 1980's, could not be validated since computer models were not as sophisticated then.
The one thing the researchers cannot accurately predict however, is when we became smooth-skinned. While they estimate it was about 3 million years ago or a million years after we first began to walk upright, to get the exact date, they would have to find an ancient human buried under volcano ash - The only thing known to preserve hair!
Resources:britishecologicalsociety.org
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239 Comments
- Shameeka Walkerabout 13 yearsDid you know that people go on the internet to reseach that why human los their fur.In thwe story humans buried under volcano ash.They also know how to preserve their hair.
- Avatarabout 13 yearsthis is really interesting and a great theory
- Koby EWAabout 13 yearsNow that is some cool evolution ,,,,,,,I cannot believe that we have changed that much . But there is still a discussion going on between scientists that we did not evolve like that .. Some say that we came like we did today .As in not exactly , but really similar , I myself still do not believe that we started off as monkeys or chimpanzees or apes. (whatever primate they say we are related too ) Honestly , under that volcanic ash did someone really , really have hair ??? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? Because I believe that in ash is so hot it will burn you from the inside out , ( and yes this is possible ) wouldn't you be , well I don't know HAIRLESS ?
- The Dead Eagle about 13 yearsThats Cool
- jacqueline lukacsabout 13 yearsi did not like the story because it did not talk much about why humans loose thier fur.
- Julianna EWAabout 13 yearsOMG!!!! I never knew that people once were hairy. I cannot image what it would be like if people would walk around all hairy. I wonder how they found the buried people.
- Julianna EWAabout 13 yearsOMG!!!! I never knew that people once were hairy. I cannot image what it would be like if people would walk around all hairy. I wonder how they found the buried people.
josh009about 13 yearsmy report too- peanutabout 13 yearsperfect for my report
- Emma-+about 13 yearspeople used to be apes? i never ever knew that, but Im lucky I wasent born as an ape