Re: Sweating hominids


"Andrew Nowicki" <andrew@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:42CD243D.BD71A64A@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

>> The patas monkey example (most-sweating non-human primate AFAWK) suggests
>> that nakedness has not much to do with sweating.

.....

>> Ah? Care to explain it again?

> Sure. Evaporation cools the evaporating liquid. Evaporation is intensified
> by the flow of air above the liquid. Fur impedes the flow of air, so it
> impedes evaporation and cooling.

1) Then why do other mammals that are believed to sweat to cool down have
fur (patas, horse...)?
2) Hairs enhance the surface from with water can be evaporated.
3) Do you have examples of other furless+sweating mammals that sweat a lot
thermo-actively?

> Another issue is the ratio of a mass of a hot or warm object to its
> surface area. Small object, such as the patas monkey (body mass of about 5
> kg) cools faster than big object because it has small ratio of heat stored
> in the body to its surface.

Yes, but what is the relevance to sweating IYO? Other mammals wet parts of
the body to cool (esp.small mammals? eg, rats?) &/or pant (dogs...).

What is the salt concentration of horse or patas sweat?

>> We know their [apiths] anatomy was very different from ours, eg, much
>> shorter legs, inverted funnel-shaped thorax, broader pelvis, longer &
>> more horizontal femoral necks, etc.

> What really matters is whether their anatomy was optimized for running,
> walking, tree climbing, or hauling heavy loads.

They were apparently good climbers (curved phalanges), possibly good waders
(bipedality, broad body, flat feet...), but no good runners (short legs,
flat feet, very broad pelvis...), and I don't see any reason why they would
have been hoaling loads...

Marc Verhaegen

http://www.onelist.com/community/AAT

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT1






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