On Tue, 3 Jun 2003 13:54:03 +0000 (UTC), Fidcal
 wrote:

>This is an idea I had but couldn't find out if it's an old
>theory, maybe even well-established or well-discounted or too
>absurd to consider. I couldn't find any reference in a quick
>search so thought I'd toss it in here for interest and out of
>curiosity. Just ignore if it's stupid/naive....
>
>Feelers evolved to detect surroundings.
>
>Multiple small hair-like feelers evolved to give better
>all-round coverage.
>
>In cooler areas mutations with denser numbers of these feelers
>might have an advantage by trapping air which would reduce heat
>loss.
>
>Later mutations might be warm-blooded.
>
>In other words, perhaps hair didn't evolve to help warm-blooded
>creatures keep warm but warm-blooded creatures evolved to take
>advantage of existing hair?

Many large animals maintain their bodies (or portions of their bodies)
above environmental temperature (are endothermic).  It is a question
of volume (heat production) vs surface area (heat loss).  Hair and
feathers, the two major insulating materials used by the two major
endothermic homeotherms (the preferred technical term for
"warm-blooded") clearly derived from reptilian scales, not sensory
structure.

In other words, the generally accepted sequence is, first, some
partial degree of keeping your core body tempeerature warm. Second,
better ways of insulating the body to improve your temperature
regulation.  Only in recent times has hair evolved into a behavioral
mechanism used by adolescents to drive their parents to distraction.
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