A Hairy Conundrum

This may be an unusually stupid question...

Whether some people believe we evolved from apes, were created by God, or aliens, or some equally intriguing circumstance. I'm puzzled.

If we evolved from apes, ok we lost body hair overtime due to the way in which we perspire. Wether we look at ape's, gorilla's, even monkeys they all have short to moderate head hair length.

If we were created by God we were created in his image, or this is just how he designed us. We don't know.

If we were ape like prehumans where aliens scientifically adapted our DNA with theirs, then we would obviously be part Alien part Ape, so look a mix between the two.

So the question is. Given any of the above, at what point in our evolution, or creation did our head hair grow at a disproportionate length, and what was the evolutionary reason or created purpose for this long hair?

Also, does this give favourable argument to either our evolution or our creation as Humans?

reply to post by DAZ21


On the African savannas, long hair would've been beneficial because it could be spread over one's shoulders protecting the top of the body from intense, harsh sunlight.

reply to post by DAZ21
You know, first of all, you're creeping me out because I just wondered about this the other day... specifically about our 'head hair' growing constantly, unlike other creatures on this planet. (Well, maybe except for poodles, lol, and really it's an all-over thing for them-- not just on their heads!)

But I pondered this, not from the perspective of 'whodunnit' but from the angle of 'why' it is evolutionarily sound. The most likely thing I could come up with is that, since our body and head hair is somewhat like antennae for our sense of touch-- you know, picking up on things and causing goose bumps-- that maybe, just maybe our head hair grows and grows as it reaches to make contact and pick up on signals from beyond. Ahhh, but gravity throws it Earthward. But you think about it now... what lies beneath your lustrous head of hair? Your brain, my friend. Your communications base, if you will.

Originally posted by Kaiuk
reply to post by DAZ21

 

On the African savannas, long hair would've been beneficial because it could be spread over one's shoulders protecting the top of the body from intense, harsh sunlight.

That is true, but then again-- why wouldn't the shoulders just develop more hair instead, since the head-hair would fling off the shoulders with certain movements and winds, and not keep proper coverage all the time.

reply to post by DAZ21


I won't conjecture whether it's because of evolution or creation
that we have ability to grow long hair. But if I remember correctly,
something like 60% of body heat is lost through the head.
Since we "lost" the rest of our body hair to help retain heat,
the longer hair on the head would be a definite advantage in
cooler climates.
The body in a cold environment will do everything possible to
maintain internal organ temperature .It will minimise blood
flow to the extremities (which is why people get frostbite)
in order to keep organs warm.
But the body won't minimise blood flow to the brain in a cold temp
situation because the brain is just too important, even though
it's in somewhat of an extremity location compared with other organs.
The old saying is that "If your feet are cold,put a hat on"

Originally posted by new_here

Originally posted by Kaiuk
reply to post by DAZ21

 

On the African savannas, long hair would've been beneficial because it could be spread over one's shoulders protecting the top of the body from intense, harsh sunlight.

That is true, but then again-- why wouldn't the shoulders just develop more hair instead, since the head-hair would fling off the shoulders with certain movements and winds, and not keep proper coverage all the time.

That plus unless it was hotter then, most Africans tend to have the really closely cropped hair because of the heat, lice etc

Interesting thought though but then why do some sections of humanity have excess body hair all over if we adapted and evolved? Never understood how some could grow up virtually without much body hair while others have hair all over.

Originally posted by curious7
"...why do some sections of humanity have excess body hair all over if we adapted and evolved? Never understood how some could grow up virtually without much body hair while others have hair all over."

Yep, I've wondered the same. Makes you kinda play with the idea that we all might have different beginnings... as in, various extraterrestrial beings visiting primitive man and splicing genes in a lab or breeding with the indiginant population, or just random exposure to mixtures of space dust laden with DNA-altering capabilities... ?
Who knows?!!!