Yes, I understand this and it is in my post as part of the question: is it just a showoff feature like peacock’s feathers? I also understand traits that don’t impact fitness won’t be selected against.
But I have the nagging feeling that the body does spend a fair amount of extra resources creating long hair when it could make do with just a fraction. Use it or lose it is a popular trend in the animal kingdom. You can have a very showy coat using a lot less resources, if we’re talking about health markers only.
But, fear not, there are theories that support long hair as having an actual practical function that impacts fitness, and people in the comments have posted some.
What I like about these theories is that they aren’t mutually exclusive. You can have a variety of factors that mildly favor the same trait, it’s not always one single factor exerting clear pressure on things.
Frozengyro@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I think many see evolution as a smart process moving towards something or as improvement. That’s correlation, it looks that way from the outside, but evolution is merely what survived long enough to reproduce, and traits best for that and/or selected by a partner, are what get passed on.
flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
And back to OPs question : maybe long hair was helpful? Either in finding a mate or keeping warm.
I’m bald AF though, and successful on both counts so what do I know?
Mothra@mander.xyz 16 hours ago
You aren’t subject to every pressure every hominid ancestor ever was. Bald today still gets you laid, congrats! And you got hats to keep warm and look fabulous. :) I believe long hair must have presented some kind of advantage at some point though, there are some interesting comments here.