photo credit: katielann12
Everyone’s always talking about how our big brains make us different from other animals. Hah!
The real difference is in our naked skin and our millions of juicy sweat glands.
Apparently, we have the most efficient sweating system on the planet. Sure, some animals have big teeth, or can fly. Whatever. We’ve got the sweat, and that’s cool.
Because of our millions of sweat glands, and no fur to inhibit evaporation, we can do things that other animals couldn’t dream of. For example, on a hot day, a human can beat a horse in a marathon.
(Of course, it has to be a human who can run a marathon in the first place.)
According to Nina Jablonski, who wrote the book on the subject, our sweating system has allowed us to tolerate a varied climate, as well as differing levels of physical activity.
If we didn’t have millions of sweat glands, “we would still be clad in the thick hair of our ancestors, living largely apelike lives.”
As we began to move around more (hunting, for example), all that hair became a hindrance, keeping us too hot. We lost the hair, gained tons of sweat glands, and became the humans we are today.
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