Comment on What possible evolutionary advantage is offered by my ears suddenly sprouting tons of hair?

• AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I’m not a geneticist or anthropologist, but apparently that’s a debated, not proven mechanism. The theory being that natural selection works not just on individuals, but on societies. So if older members of a society are more inclined to help take care of the young, that society is more likely to survive, so that trait is more likely to get passed along and become more common in the population. That mechanism would only apply to social/pack animals (like humans), so wouldn’t apply to, say, turtles.

  But it’s hard to argue that ear hair in old men helps their society thrive. More likely, it’s just one more trait that is a result of aging and not selected for, like grey hair or wrinkles.

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  • calcopiritus@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I don’t think anyone denies that whatever happens after you no longer pass your genes around has no evolutionary effect.

    Whether helping your offspring is evolutionarily helpful or not might be debatable (I don’t see how it would not be helpful though)

    Even in beings that not form societies it has an impact. Example:

    You reproduce, then instantly die. Now your offspring have more available resources around them, since you no longer consume them

    Or, your reproduce and you become much stronger, but not aggressive towards non-predators. Now predators are less likely to be near you, and your offspring are probably near you. Therefore, they probably benefit from having less predators around.

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    • AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I should have included those things an individual does to help their direct offspring - those also help you pass along your genes. Whether it’s nurturing your young, or dying and letting them feed off your corpse, anything you do to help them survive can be part of natural selection too. Don’t those things increases the likelihood of that trait being found in the population. Ear hair isn’t one of those things.

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