The Human Scrapbook

I wanted to put into pictures the idea birthed here.    When we look in the mirror a myriad of generations and strange ancestral creatures peer back, if only we have the eyes to see it.  It's fun to think this way!  Examples abound and I post it now quite incomplete in hopes that I'll come back to it here and there and continue to amass great examples.

Teeth -  Possibly from small dermal plates

Jaw - You chew with a rib.

 

Hair - Well, hair had to come from somewhere.  Reckon it was modified scales.

Fingernails - More modified scales.

Arms and Legs - It's a different way to look at gymnastics as dancing on fins...

This dude's 73.  

Tail - I sit where my ancestors swam.

Ears - It should be a little weird to think that my ancestors breathed through the equivalent of my Eustachian tubes coming from my ears.

Nose - Fish have noses; they just don't go anywhere.  Amphibian evolution involved those pits deepening and finally opening to the palate.

Pix picked:
http://kingsenglish.info/2011/04/17/escaped-by-the-skin-of-my-teeth/
http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/bellyscales/Interesting
http://wildwhales.org/2011/02/offshore-killer-whales-a-diet-discovery/
http://www.life123.com/beauty/hairstyles-hair-care/layered-hairstyles/layered-hairstyles-for-long-hair.shtml
http://www.tattooingtattoo.com/cross-tattoos-2/back-tattoos-for-men/
http://enb150-2011f-thb.blogspot.com/2011/11/amphioxus.html?z
http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2009/09/03/4352115-
http://outlier.deviantart.com/art/Australian-Lungfish-3886569
http://onefatfish.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/22/
http://mad.blog.dccomics.com/tag/jay-leno/
http://www.muscleandstrength.com/forum/general-chat/64462-random-bodybuilding-thread-2.ht
ml
http://www.managemylife.com/mmh/questions/247358-broke-tail-bone-several-years
http://www.chicagoparent.com/magazines/web-only/october-2010/when-it's-time-to-see-an-ent
http://wonderaday.com/blog/The_Underwater_World_Of_Indonesia/
http://www.gigwise.com/news/49325/Michael-Jacksons-Nose-Could-Collapse-From-MRSA-Superbug

Nose Hairs in Humans - An Idle Evolutionary Speculation

If you think about it, noses are funny looking.  What do you think an alien or other species would think of our schnozes?   They come in all different shapes for different reasons.

http://anthrocivitas.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7262&page=2

http://www.drawspace.com/lessons/p08/adult-noses-in-profile

They're quite different from other primate noses:

http://www.itsnature.org/trees/mammals-trees/proboscis-monkey/

http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/gorilla/physical-characteristics.htm

http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/golden_snub-nosed_monkey 

There's something else that's different.  The inside:

What does having a lot of nose hairs say about our evolution?  Let's consider some possibilities


Do other mammals have similar amounts of nose hairs to humans? Certainly they may, but I feel like I've typically seen nary a nose hair in another animal's nose by picture, pet, zoo.  Might we be special in this regard?  Frankly, I wish I knew more about this, but I'll offer some speculation (because I enjoy thinking about these things).

-We have the same amount it's just that humans have them closer to the exit of the nose. Possibly because we have dextrous fingers? :)

http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/hair-trimmer-nose-hair-trimmer-6003005/

http://mybeautifulstrange.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/london-zoo%E2%80%99s-nose-picking-gorilla/

-We have more nose hairs because we have little in the way of turbinates--cilia filtering, warming, moisturizing nasal corrugations. And why is that? Our ancestors needed to distance walk/run and therefore hyperventalate? What does that say about our evolutionary climate?  Moister? Warmer?  Less focus on smell?

Turbinates are drastically more complex and corrugated in other animals. 

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/77199-Kodiak-hunters-want-a-quality-Skull-mount
Human:

http://chambermusictoday.blogspot.com/2008/01/humidifying-captive-singers-breathing.html

-Does it say anything about the specific evolutionary environment from which we come? High dust desert? High bug zone?

http://pippasperegrinations.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/

http://www.askabiologist.org.uk/answers/viewtopic.php?pid=17088#p17088

The response I received: 

• Joe Daniel

• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
• Posts: 143

Other animals have nose hairs, we are not special in that regard. The amount varies, but I couldn't say anything about how much exactly.

We don't lack turbinates. We have three sets, an inferior, middle, and superior. They are not as well developed as in some others, like say dogs and seals, but we have them and they are very important in helpig us to limit water loss through our nasal passages and to a small degree in helping to cool the brain (ok, only by about half to one degree, but still).

Most people think we evolved in a more open, drier climate, which was probably dusty, so it is possible we were selected for bushier noses than our more forest-bred ape relatives, but I don't know of any real studies on that.

Bifurcated Senses - The Power of Two

Two is better than one.  Why?  Because you can compare and contrast the two side's concentrations and hone in on the location of the smell.  That's why we have two nostrils (at least, that used to be the reason), that's why snakes have forked tongues, and why we have two ears (two eyes is for greater range of vision and for 3-D imaging, which is a similar contrast of concentrations).