Hairy or hairless, where are you on the evolution time scale

[MarkB]

From the National Geographic:

Are Humans Furless to Thwart Parasites?

John Pickrell in England
for National Geographic News

June 17, 2003
Humans are unique among primates for our near-total bodily hairlessness. In fact, only a handful of the 5,000 or so mammals—mostly semi-aquatic species such as whales, walruses, and hippopotamuses—are not covered in dense fur.

Now, a controversial new theory suggests that human hairlessness evolved as a strategy to shed the ticks, lice, fleas, and other parasites that nestle deep in fur.

Full story here:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... umans.html

And how much more do they want us to shave off, according to the ads in all media, if we only have the hair left on our heads, that would be fine with them, as long as we use their magic potions.

MarkB

[Joseph E. Smith]

Very hairy in my youth... not very hairy in middle age. Am I moving up the evoluctionary scale?

[kevin m.]

My head is certainly evolving.
Unfortunately,my ears and nostrils are de-volving at an alarming rate!!

[Jack]

I no longer believe in evolution, at least in the way this article presents it.

However, I know some quite hairy people, with thick, dark, dense, bodily hair--including my mother and her side of my family.

I've always wanted a hairless dog, too.

[TelegramSam]

If this is true, then how come there are not more mammals in Africa that are hairless? I mean, just look at things like lions and hyenas. They're quite furry!

[Unseen122]

Sam, also look at which animals rule the world in a sense. I was never really a fan of evolution but it does make ya wonder.

[Jack]

Sam, also look at which animals rule the world in a sense.

Insects? I heard somewhere that insects are the most successful, as far as numbers go, animals in history.

[SteveShaw]

If there is indeed a Good Lord, then the hair on the human male is surely His number one joke. I mean, why do I need extra hair growing out of my ears and nose and around my b*m just because I'm getting older? I didn't have it when I was a callow youth and I don't flippin' well need it now! Why have I got hilarious-looking bald patches on my calves? The ones on my legs - duh. And why do I lose hair from the very place I need it most, i.e. the top of my head, which is now subject to severe sunburn within minutes of going outdoors except for a few weeks either side of Christmas?

And possibly the most mystifying thing of all. How does pubic hair know that it's the correct length and can stop growing? If I cut it, it grows back to the same length as before, not a millimetre more. But how do the living follicles know that the inert ends, inches away, have been trimmed? They can't know can they? The hair on my head or face will just keep growing longer and longer and must be kept under control but my untrammelled pubes know exactly how to behave. By rights I should have been tripping up over them years ago.

No school biology book ever explained these things!

Steve

[Lambchop]

And possibly the most mystifying thing of all. How does pubic hair know that it's the correct length and can stop growing? If I cut it,

Talk about over-sharing . . .

They can't know can they? The hair on my head or face will just keep growing longer and longer and must be kept under control but my untrammelled pubes know exactly how to behave.

I believe you will notice that, if you trim it, the pubic fallout on your bathroom floor and shower drain is . . . shorter. Then it's slightly longer. Then longer still. And so on, until it's the untrimmed length again. But, at each stage, it's ALL THE SAME LENGTH. That's because it's falling out when it gets to a certain age, not a certain length.

Follicles don't know how long the hair is . . . only how long they have been producing it. Pubic follicles must have a shorter production period than those elsewhere on the body.

At least, that's my theory. My other theory was that the follicles "knew" how long the hair was by sensing the pressure built up by the constricting effect of underpants.

[Jack]

And possibly the most mystifying thing of all. How does pubic hair know that it's the correct length and can stop growing? If I cut it,

Talk about over-sharing . . .

I thought that, too, but, since I seem to have a bad sense as to what is over-sharing and what isn't, I remained silent.

[djm]

How does pubic hair know that it's the correct length and can stop growing? If I cut it, it grows back to the same length as before, not a millimetre more.

Perhaps you're more of a wax man?

djm

[Denny]

How does pubic hair know that it's the correct length and can stop growing? If I cut it, it grows back to the same length as before, not a millimetre more.

Perhaps you're more of a wax man?

djm

Well, one would think that anyone into precise measurement would be.

[kevin m.]

And possibly the most mystifying thing of all. How does pubic hair know that it's the correct length and can stop growing?

. . .

My other theory was that the follicles "knew" how long the hair was by sensing the pressure built up by the constricting effect of underpants.

THAT'S IT- Wear underpants on your head,and You'll never have to pay for a haircut ever again!!!!!

[lixnaw]

never wax your eyebrows!! you can always let your eyebrows grow long and comb them back if you get bald

[Lambchop]

never wax your eyebrows!! you can always let your eyebrows grow long and comb them back if you get bald

There's another conundrum. Why is it that if you shave your eyebrows, or wax them--even once--the parts you DO want will never grow back? But you can do anything you'd like to the parts you DON"T want--year after year--and they're back within hours? And they've brought friends!

Same thing for those little mustaches.