Waking up covered in dew
Paul Crowley (Paul@crowleyp.demon.co.uk)
Fri, 09 Aug 96 20:32:58 GMT
" . . many Old World primates . will often ascend to the tree-tops
for the warmth of the rising sun and for drying the nightly dew
on their fur . ." (page 44, The Life of Primates, Adolph Schultz)
The deposition of nightly dew must have been a serious problem for
our ancestors. And it would have been worse on the ground than up
in a tree. Protection from dew is a function of fur that is
usually overlooked. Of course, once they began to use animal skins
as covers it would have been largely solved. That was probably
H.erectus. But how did they cope before that?
I suggest that they didn't: they must have lived in an environment
where dew did not occur.
Any other ideas?
Paul.
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