Posted on 05/05/2005 8:54:08 AM PDT by blam
Noses didn't need cold to evolve
Bruce Bower
From Milwaukee, at a joint meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society and American Association of Physical Anthropologists
Fossil evidence that Neandertals possessed exceptionally large, broad noses has often been explained as an evolutionary response to life in cold, dry locales. An expansive schnoz might have warmed incoming cold air or expelled body heat during hunting and other strenuous activities.
However, new data indicate that climate played no role in shaping the Neandertal nose. Marc R. Meyer of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and his coworkers found similarly sized nasal passages in a set of 10 Neandertal skulls, some from Mediterranean and Middle Eastern sites that were warm and humid and others from frigid European sites.
Moreover, big, broad noses appear just as often in people from either warm or cold climates, Meyer notes. His team measured nasal dimensions in 460 modern human skulls representing individuals from throughout the world.
Noses don't evolve independently of other facial structures, Meyer argues. A large Neandertal upper jaw laid the anatomical groundwork for a broad nose, he proposes. Citing measurements of Neandertal and modern skulls, Meyer and his colleagues find that the wider the upper jaw, the larger the nasal cavity.
GGG Ping.
He breathes with his gills, not the nose.
I don't know ... maybe yes ... maybe no ... who nose.
Reminds me of the old joke:
Why do ____________ (fill in with the group you are lampooning) have big noses?
Because they have big fingers!
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Specific features evolve because at some time and probably for an extended time a bottleneck or "survival of the fittist" senario favored that feature. Once that feature is dominant in the genes of the survivors, that specific feature isn't going to instantly disappear just because the situation changed for the better.
Yep. I'm amazed by "science journalists" that explain evolution in Lamarck's terms -- environment forces change, rather than change fits the environment.
Yeah, good point.
The environment is cold, we build warmer shelters. I get cold, I find an extra blanket. I do not even consider growing a broader nose as an option.
Lazy... :p
Yeah I guess whoever came up with this theory...
[wait for it]
...really blew it.
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