why are people only hairy on their heads for the most part?

Question

cats, dogs, birds, giraffes..hairy all over. but people..we're funny looking compared to the rest of the animal kingdom.

Answer 1

Actually my boyfriend is a wolly mammoth! And he's only 25...
Scary!!!

Answer 2

Well, the first theory, as to why we are naked, is basically for heating purposes. We humans sweat more than any other animal (I know I do). This cools us down, unless we have a thick layer of fur covering our skins. Without any hair, sweat evaporates more easily, and we cool down quicker. One theory goes that we humans are built for long distance running (so that we could tire out our prey, who couldn't run for very long). So, in order to do that, we must keep cool, or else die of heat exhaustion, and so we became naked apes.
Also, it may be that the hair is thickest on our heads, because that's the spot most hit by sunlight. The hair would then protect our scalps from the direct sunlight.

Also, if you notice, we have hair on the top of our heads, no hair on our foreheads, and hair on our brow ridges (eyebrows). This brings attention to our eyes, which we humans use all the time for body language. With chimpanzees, its the opposite: they have naked brow ridges, but hairy foreheads.

Answer 3

One of the (many) theories is that humans lost much hair on their bodies to increase the heat loss through the skin. Dogs and cats can't sweat through their fur to get rid of excess heat; they pant instead. Humans can use their whole skin. Actually, there is also a theory that bipedality (walking upright) also evolved to decrease heat uptake by the body!

Answer 4

Yea its sort of strange.

And how come (most) people hate hair anywhere but their head?

How come (most of) us women shave our legs and everything but let the hair on top of our head grow so long?


Its crazy when you think about things.