Why Humans are Hairless

Why are humans mostly free of body hair, in comparison to other primates? Losing body hair was an evolutionary advantage in that it allowed early hominids to forage over a greater distance in harsher climates. In Scientific American, Mariette DiChristina writes:

Our forebears abandoned their easier foraging habits, traveling longer distances through a tropical landscape to acquire sufficient food to survive. Adding meat to their diets meant more calories, but finding prey also took more work. Their activity level increased and with it their need to dissipate body heat to avoid tissue damage. By 1.6 mya, protohumans had long legs for sustained walking and running. Along with that trait came naked skin and a large number of eccrine sweat glands, which produce moisture that removes body heat through evaporative cooling. The hairs on our head also help to combat overheating, by shielding our big brain from direct sun.


Link | Photo: US Department of Energy

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Aquatic ape theory! I luuuurve the aquatic ape theory- here is my favorite link (TED talk)

http://www.ted.com/talks/elaine_morgan_says_we_evolved_from_aquatic_apes.html
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...And somewhere the coming decades, some other scientist will come up with other far more conclusive evidence that clearly shows that humans have become naked because it worked better to just be naked than to have to shave it all off with all the bad methods to un-hair that were there at the time or something like that...
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