Re: AAT
5121 Student 09 (cm315c09@nova.umd.edu)
1 May 1994 10:10:21 -0400
<gunncb@elec.canterbury.ac.nz> wrote:
>>>Our nose looks the way it does because we have a flat face. Most other
>>>primates have snouts and the direction of the nasal passage is due to
>>>the fact that it sits on a snout that projects forward quit a bit.
>
>What a fascinating suggestion!
>
>>How is this an advantage?
>
>He did not say it was an advantage, only that it was an effect of the
>change in our relative jaws sizes.
(my my aren't we defensive)
I did not say it was an advantage either. I'm just wondering
how it is an advantage. Or, to put it another way, why did
man develop a flat face? I, for one, have no idea. That's
why I asked.
>>So far, the only actual information you have presented was
>>Pete Wheeler's explaination of hair loss and bipedalism. His
>>theory is not without merit, but again I ask - if man was *so*
>>hot that he would stand erect and lose his hair, would he
>>not also get in the water to cool off? Especially since
>>water cools so much better than air (as Pete Wheeler went
>
>This is bizare. Why would man get so hot suddenly in the first place?
Excuse me? What is bizarre about it? Man got hot because
the weather got hot.
>>to great lengths to explain). And especially since sweat
>>needs to be replenished with frequent trips to the water
>>anyway (a point that even Wheeler conceeds).
>
>I suspect this is nonsense, although understandable. The Australian aborigines
>may be a good example of a hot-savanah living race as far as getting hot is `
>concerned. They do not drink frequently during the day, although they
>do urinate reguraly. They manage to do this by spending their mornings
>drinking huge amounts from the local watering hole. They don't drink again
>until evening.
I consider _spending their mornings_ to be frequent. What's your point?
>I suspect that a good explanation for the hairlessness/fat business may
>go as follows: The advantages of fat are: insulation,
Fat provides no insulatory benifit.
>energy storage.
Why did man need more energy storage than other primate?
>The disadvantage is that it slows you down, more energy to move around.
Not in the water. It's buoyancy is an advantage in the water.
>Obviously fat apes would have trouble climbing trees. A disadvantage of
>thicker fur is that it is a suitable habitate for lice, fleas etc.
Doesn't seem to have encouraged every other savannah mammal to lose hair.
>==> You would expect apes to have their hair thin out, and gain fat if they
>stopped climbing trees so much, and were able to feed themselves easier.
No I wouldn't.
>Further, is sweating a superior for of heat loss?
superior to what? Hair? Yes it is.
>I seem to remember someone saying that men have more hair than dogs.
>(number wise, possible count density).
So?
> One final point, could it be that the AAT ers are suggesting that the AA was
>entering the hippo niche?
I'm not. I'm suggesting that man spent some time in the water.
I believe he did so because he was hot, because he needed to drink
water to replenish sweat, because there is food for which he
can out-compete others, and because it was safer than the savannah.
My 2 cents.
David Greene
cm315c09@nova.umd.edu
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