if we evolved from apes, then why are we not so hairy?

Question

why do we have less hair than them?
tribes which live in places such as the amazon rainforest, like the kayapo which are surrounded with these creatures, do not seem to be hairy compared to us, why is this?

thanks,

Answer 1

Interesting question. There is no completely convincing argument or evidence - hair does not fossilise. It is speculated that part of human evolution (yes, evolution is real, people should not run away in fear from the concept that we change over time) has been through a process of neoteny.

Neoteny is the persistence of juvenile body features into the mature adult, through evolution.

Neoteny is well demonstrated in many animal groups, with species of salamander being the best examples Gills in adults, spend all time in water).

What features distinguish humans from chimps, gorillas, gibbons & other apes apart from lack of hair:
- intelligence
- curiousity in the post-juvenile phase
- play continuing into adult life
- (continue with you own list)

What do young apes have that adult apes tend not to have:
- lack of body hair
- learning through play
- curiosity
- etc

So, it is specualted that during the evolution of human intelligence, many juvenile features of other ape species have persisted into adulthood in ours. We are hairless because we are sexually mature juveniles; the hair loss is aside-effect of our evolution of intelligence.

Answer 2

Although it is true that, as many other posters have said, we did not evolve from any existing apes but from a common ancestor, this doesn't actually help in answering your question. There is no doubt that our common ancestor with the apes would have also been hairy, and in fact if you saw it you would probably call it an ape.

The reasons for the loss of our hair aren't fully known, but it is likely that they are to do with our move into the savannah from the forests. Those apes that remained behind stayed hairy, but we lost most of ours (although as another poster pointed out, we actually have the same amount of body hair as chimps, it's just that ours is much finer).

It's probable that this has to do with thermal regulation - we became hunters, who needed to be able to run for long distances to chase our prey. The loss of hair would have made cooling via sweat more efficient.

Another point about hair is that we still have the goosebump reaction to cold. This is an evolutionary remnant - it is valuable for animals with thick hair, as it has the effect of raising the hairs thus increasing the insulation. However for hairless apes like ourselves, it actually has the opposite effect - it increases the surface area thus increasing heat loss! It's a good example of evolution not always doing the most efficient thing - but it didn't matter so much because we learnt to cover ourselves in other animals' skins.

Answer 3

We actually no less hairy than an ape, its just our hair is finer and less visible than that of apes.
Over MILLIONS of years we have gradually being evolving less hair....I assume in part this is to do with us using clothing...but i'm not exactly sure of the reason for less hair.

We have some left over traits from being hairy...that is when we are scared or "fight"mode...the age old fight ot flight....the adrenaline released causes the hair to stand on end...so we look bigger (like that in cats and dogs).
Umm it doesn;t really matter where people live in the world and how close they live to apes, it has been a considerable amount of time since we had a shared ancestor.

Answer 4

Well this might not be just a heat issue...maybe it came through natural selection from breeding. Maybe human woman preferred men that were less hairy and therefore with time people ended up with less hair overall.

After all humans was the first animal to get fire and clothes therefore the importance of fur didn't really matter...few would have died from cold if they hadn't any body hair. Its the same issue with men having nipples since they weren't selected against the nipples remained and so did the lack of large amounts of hair!

Answer 5

The food supply appears to have had it's effect on humans, such as harmonies in meat we eat may have a permenent effect over the years

Answer 6

We did not evolve from apes, we evolved from a common ancestor - Darwin's Theory of Evolution
We do not have less hair then them - just finer

Answer 7

Evolution itself. Remember, Neanderthals were very hairy because of the climate they lived in. I'm very hairy. I have hairy. Hairy... the more i say hairy to myself the more it doesn't sound like a word. Bears are hairy?

Answer 8

The answer's in your question. Part of the evolution process involved losing a lot of our hair.

Answer 9

Maybe because we did not evolve from apes. Very good question.

Answer 10

actually.... some people have freaky amounts of hair, and some have massive amounts of hair ..... recessive genes?
what about finger and toe nails? arn't they a bigger clue? men's nipples (if adam was made from eve.... but the other way round don't cut) ...another clue?