• Question: Why did humans lose their tails and fur

    Asked by to Edward, Ian, Mathew, Naomi, sakshisharda on 23 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Sakshi Sharda

      Sakshi Sharda answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      Hi chloe1266

      What a great question!!
      We lost our tails as we evolved from monkeys to humans because we have an upright posture. As the apes started to walk on 2 feet instead of 4, tails became redundant.

      Now coming to your question on why we lost our hair. There are numerous theories for that. Here are some-
      1- Loss of hair to prevent parasitic infections of ticks etc..
      2- Humans and their ancestors have evolved on grasslands that were typically hotter than jungles (where the monkeys used to live). More hair in this scenario meant that they would feel hotter during the day.
      3- This is an interesting one. Some scientists think that lesser hair has evolved in humans due to mate preference, which means that men would choose women who had lesser hair on their body compared to others. This also explains why women have lesser hair compared to males!

      I hope this helps! 😉

    • Photo: Naomi Osborne

      Naomi Osborne answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      We still have a little bit of our tail which evolution has seen us retain – the tail bone or coccyx. We probably won’t ever lose it as it attaches ligaments and muscles, so is still quite useful.

      The same goes for our appendix which used to be much larger when our ancestors ate mainly leaves,where it housed bacteria that helped break down plants. Now it still houses bacteria that are important for our health, so although it’s not that important anymore it still has a function which is why we’ll keep it.

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