3 ms·
I have long felt that sexual selection dominates random mutations for external features. My guess is that darker skin enabled sexual selection for hairlessness
by russell 17y ago
I have long felt that sexual selection dominates random mutations for external features. My guess is that darker skin enabled sexual selection for hairlessness. I can see where smooth healthy skin would be more attractive than monkey hair. If these characteristics appeared in a relatively isolated population, the evolution to nakedness by sexual selection could be quite rapid.
I give little credence to just-so stories like nakedness evolved to free us of parasites. Viewing human evolution as dominated by sexual evolution with a few tweaks from mutations, like darker skin, makes more sense to me. Head hair and pubic hair are purely sexual.