Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Chatter > General Discussion


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 06-08-2003, 09:02 AM   #1 (permalink)
I change
 
ARTelevision's Avatar
 
Location: USA
Hirsute yourself? Hairless is better for reducing the ectoparasite load

Why do I find this fascinating?
It's an entertaining read, I guess.

Hair, wonderful hair - it's a roach motel.
....................

Early humans lost hair to beat bugs

June 03

NewScientist.com news service

Humans may have lost their body hair to reduce their vulnerability to fur-loving parasites and therefore attract the opposite sex, a new evolutionary theory proposes.

The nakedness of the human species is extremely rare among the 3000 or so living mammal species. Other naked mammals include elephants, walruses, pigs, whales and the bizarre naked mole-rat.

A widely accepted view is that humans lost their hair to help control their body temperature as they evolved into upright creatures on the warm plains of the African savannah. But this theory has problems that researchers believe the new theory can solve.

"The body cooling hypothesis is interesting, but some of the advantages in not having fur in the Sun become disadvantages at night," says Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading, UK. Humans would lose too much heat at night, he says.

"In animals, ectoparasites like biting flies, exert tremendous fitness costs - they really affect our health," he told New Scientist. "Our view is that hairlessness is an adaptation for reducing the ectoparasite load."


Warmth and shelter


However, if humans evolved to beat parasites by losing the hair they hide in, why did our hirsute ape cousins not do the same? The reason, says Pagel, is that we also developed our own culture. We are the only ones who learned to build fires and shelter and to make clothes, he says, all of which helped us keep warm while shedding our fur.

"It's one of those nice cases of gene/culture co-evolution," says Pagel. "It's the culture which helped us acquire the means to lose our hair."

"It does sound quite plausible," agrees Christophe Soligo, a researcher in human origins at the Natural History Museum in London, UK. Soligo calls the theory "elegant" as it addresses a key problem.

"The question we always have in explaining unique human traits is: why didn't other animals evolve them as well if they are so advantageous?" he told New Scientist.


Sexual selection


The only other animal that has achieved something similar is the naked mole rat. These strange sausage-like creatures live underground in large social colonies in arid regions. In their densely populated networks they should suffer a huge parasite load, but they do not. Their nakedness is possible as the temperature of their underground tunnels is very even.


Sexual selection for desirable mates may be another pressure which fuelled hair loss in humans, suggest Pagel and his colleague Walter Bodmer at the University of Oxford, UK.

Pagel says natural selection might initially favour less hairy individuals, as they have fewer parasites. But sexual selection could accelerate the loss of fur, as more naked early humans could be fitter and therefore more attractive as mates.

The researchers say one way to test their theory would be to see whether humans who live in areas with large parasite populations are less hairy than those who do not.

Journal reference: Biology Letters (Online publication)

..................

Even though short hair and hairless are "in" these days, I notice that the old Fabio look still rules the male fantasy hero image.

I guess inviting parasites is still sexy for some...
__________________
create evolution
ARTelevision is offline  
Old 06-08-2003, 10:32 AM   #2 (permalink)
Loser
 
hey, bald is beautiful

just keep telling me that.
heh
rogue49 is offline  
Old 06-08-2003, 02:48 PM   #3 (permalink)
Loser
 
Re: Hirsute yourself? Hairless is better for reducing the ectoparasite load

Quote:
Originally posted by ARTelevision


..................

Even though short hair and hairless are "in" these days, I notice that the old Fabio look still rules the male fantasy hero image.

I guess inviting parasites is still sexy for some...
Now that's funny,..That's the best laugh I've had all day. Is a big seagull considered a parasite.Ha ha ha. Watch out,.. duck ,..duck,..Ha ha hah,..Thanks alot.
gibber71 is offline  
Old 06-08-2003, 02:51 PM   #4 (permalink)
Dubya
 
Location: VA
I cahhn't belief is naht an ectoparasite!
__________________
"In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's - and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work."
Sparhawk is offline  
Old 06-08-2003, 04:13 PM   #5 (permalink)
Crazy
 
Location: right behind you...
*cough*

no bugs in my hair thank god.

bald can be beautiful. so can waist length hair, if kept right.

*sprays a can of Raid on his head*
WhoaitsZ is offline  
Old 06-08-2003, 05:01 PM   #6 (permalink)
Junkie
 
gov135's Avatar
 
Location: Midwest
Re: Hirsute yourself? Hairless is better for reducing the ectoparasite load

Quote:
Originally posted by ARTelevision

The researchers say one way to test their theory would be to see whether humans who live in areas with large parasite populations are less hairy than those who do not.
I'm guessing funding is not exactly readily available for such scientific research. Or researchers themselves.
gov135 is offline  
Old 06-08-2003, 10:04 PM   #7 (permalink)
Upright
 
What would such scientific research uncover? well that could be applied to every day matters at least...

<sigh> talking about baldness, i know that one day i'm gonna lost this head of hair.... oh hair. . .
Camry is offline  
 

Tags
ectoparasite, hairless, hirsute, load, reducing

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 01:53 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360