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General Discussion / Re: Why does human hair seem to grow forever? Are there other animals like us?
« on: April 05, 2021, 07:37:04 pm »
I suspect it has a lot to do with sexual selection as well as keeping warm and other uses. For example, paleo people could've used spare hair as pillows / stuffing / baby coat. Also: long hair can somewhat be used as dental floss.
Notice that not all races have head hair that grows very long. In most races it's only female hair that grows very long, and in some races, neither sex has hair that grows very long. For beards it's mainly just european men that can grow very long and lush beards. Arabs, asians, hindus and australian aborigins can to an extent grow a long beard and moustache, but much less so. Africans, american indians and eskimos can't.
Finally, all mammalian hair really grows forever, including all human body hair. It's just that it tends to fall off before it gets too long.
One other example: Cats and rats and to an extent other animals use long whiskers that project far out of the body, to sense the location of objects. Cats can drastically change the direction of whiskers and point them forwards to sense prey while in the middle of a pounce.
Notice that not all races have head hair that grows very long. In most races it's only female hair that grows very long, and in some races, neither sex has hair that grows very long. For beards it's mainly just european men that can grow very long and lush beards. Arabs, asians, hindus and australian aborigins can to an extent grow a long beard and moustache, but much less so. Africans, american indians and eskimos can't.
Finally, all mammalian hair really grows forever, including all human body hair. It's just that it tends to fall off before it gets too long.
One other example: Cats and rats and to an extent other animals use long whiskers that project far out of the body, to sense the location of objects. Cats can drastically change the direction of whiskers and point them forwards to sense prey while in the middle of a pounce.