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Re: Waking up covered in dew
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. (th81@umail.umd.edu)
15 Aug 1996 12:48:44 GMT
Paul Crowley <Paul@crowleyp.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> In article <4utbi7$rr1@hecate.umd.edu>
> th81@umail.umd.edu "Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." writes:
>
> > Or they covered themselves with vegetation at night, much as other
> > anthropoids do today? Granted, you lose the big broadleaf plants as
> > you leave the tropics, but that doesn't mean they didn't use some form
> > of vegetation blanket at night.
>
> Other anthropoids don't cover themselves. Chimps and female
> gorillas make nests in trees by folding over branches; but they
> rest *on* them. Big male gorillas rest on a similar "nests" on
> the ground.
>
> In any case, I can't see a "vegetation blanket". Not unless it
> is carefully "woven" with rushes or lianas or the like; then it
> becomes a possession to be carried around.
I have seen, at least in documentaries, gorillas and chimps put some
big broad leaves over their bodies at night after they hunker down/
climb up into the nests.
By "vegetation blanket", I meant simply a layer of leaves over the body.
No sort of weaving or permanence was intended.
Also, with all the discussions about hairlessness, bipedality, and
subcutaneous fat, I did not notice a single mention of neoteny (granted,
I didn't read all the postings: shame on me). Neoteny is one of the
main aspects to 'standard' models of hominid evolution, and yet all
the discussions I've seen here have tried to find adaptationist reasons
for all the important human characteristics.
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