Most mammals seem fine with shorter hair (usually denser though). The only other case that comes to mind of very long hair restricted to a specific body area is that of horses manes, which to be fair I’m also not totally sure what purpose it serves. Many equines seem fine with shorter manes and tails that don’t have such long hair, like zebras. They swish flies away all the same.
Some animals have long hair but it covers most of their bodies (like llamas or yaks maybe), it’s not restricted to a small area. Other animals have denser or longer hair in some areas, like lions, but this serves a purpose (protection of the neck and head) and even then the length ratio between these longer hairs and the rest of the fur isn’t as skewed as that of humans.
So, why? I get that hair on the head helps protect it from the elements and sun, but why so long? Some humans can grow hair longer than their own body length, which is remarkable, and without doing any fact check I’d say we are probably among the top 5 species with longest hairs ever. Is it just a showoff feature like a peacock’s tail feathers, an indicator of overall health? Or does it serve another function as well?
I didn’t mean to type this wall of text…, thanks for coming to my TED talk
I’m not sure it’s the primary reason long hair evolved in humans and I’m not a scientist, but I do know that you can use it kind of like handlebars/reins when you’re hitting it from behind. Only with their full, notarized consent, obviously.
Just more evidence of the Grand Design!
Checkmate, atheists!
Well… More to my point… That means it’s a liability, right ?because that’s all fine and dandy when consensual but over the course of history more people have died as a consequence of getting caught by the hair than the offspring such long hair ever facilitated. I mean most military forces cut their hair for a reason. But I’m neither a scientist or a soldier so, I could be wrong too.
Wouldn’t deaths from battlegrounds be too small (before world wars) to impact a group’s genetics?
Depends on how common fights are. I heard that in very dangerous populations/times left-handedness is a lot more common, since attacking with the other arm than most people is a distinct advantage.