A Chin-Stroking Mystery: Why Are Humans the Only Animals With Chins?
www.smithsonianmag.com
It's an evolutionary conundrum, and scientists are still divided over the answer
  • erp@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15·
    3 days ago

    If I am not mistaken, according to the grammatical scrolls, having a chin makes everyone … chinese

    • Hotzilla@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      08·
      2 days ago

      Same as boobs, Human female breasts are mainly sexual, they are too large for babies to feed.

      • Snowclone@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        2 days ago

        I’m sorry, but this isn’t correct, adult human females have breasts to hide when they are in estrus, by always being swollen, it’s called hidden estrose, it’s a whole thing. This has a lot of data backing it up. I KNOW I’M SPELLING IT WRONG! PROOFREADING IS THE LAST RETREAT OF COWARDS!!!

      • Rob T Firefly@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 days ago

        they are too large for babies to feed.

        Then it seems I must have seen some of them fake it really convincingly for some reason.

  • dohpaz42@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    3 days ago

    Useful in fighting as it helps protect the lower jaw and teeth?

    But then again, it could simply be a trait we have developed over the millennia, and there is no deeper meaning to it.

  • Naz@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    26·
    2 days ago

    Artificial Intelligence Analysis:

    The chin is situated near the area where the tongue and jawbone interact during speech. It’s possible that the chin provides a surface for the tongue to move against, allowing for more complex sounds and articulations. The development of language is believed to have occurred around the same time as the emergence of Homo sapiens. While other primates have similar facial structures, they don’t possess a distinct chin. This suggests that the chin might be related to the unique demands of human language.

    Bingo – other animals don’t have a chin because they didn’t invent languages like humans did for communication, and thus the demands of speaking weren’t evenly distributed.

    Next time on interesting questions 104: Why did homo sapiens develop language when other animals such as Corvids did not?

    • SPRUNT@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      This makes more sense than the need to put on pillow cases (which has been my prevailing theory up to this point), but your question about corvids intrigues me. Partially because I’m not entirely certain of what a corvids is.

    • Hadriscus@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      I do lick my chin a lot when articulating language. As we all do, right…? fellow humanoids ?

  • Mossy Feathers (They/Them)@pawb.socialEnglish
    254·
    3 days ago

    This is why it bothers me when artists add chins to animalistic characters. It looks so wrong. An example:

    Like, shit. Cool character design but you gave the cat lady a chin. Cats don’t have chins, why did you give her a chin?

    • odelik@lemmy.todayEnglish
      6·
      2 days ago

      You’re complaining about a chin on an anthropomorphic cat woman that only has 2 breast’s instead of 6 to 8…

    • lauha@lemmy.oneEnglish
      521·
      3 days ago

      They don’t have opposable thumbs, go into night clubs, walk bipedally or have those wing things either, why is it the chin that bothers you?

      That character is mostly a cat skinned human.

      • Mossy Feathers (They/Them)@pawb.socialEnglish
        27·
        3 days ago

        Many animals, including most felids and canids, have a fifth toe (aka dew claw), which could potentially evolve into a thumb. You don’t normally see it on domestic dogs though, because if I’m not mistaken, it usually gets cut off when they’re a puppy due to it being weak and having a tendency to get caught on things.

        Alternatively, there is polydactylism in cats, which can give them extra toes that can help them grab things (I’ve seen a video of a polydactyl cat using it’s extra foretoe like a thumb, though I can’t find it). It seems possible that, overtime, an extra foretoe like that might eventually provide enough of a evolutionary benefit for it to become a standard feature.

        If cats evolved human-like intelligence, they’d absolutely have night clubs of some kind. That said, I’m not convinced that cats don’t already have human-like intelligence and aren’t just choosing to not use it, but that’s beside the point.

        Walking bipedally is something a lot of smaller mammals can do as well, it just isn’t their normal mode of locomotion because their bodies aren’t currently designed for it. Going the evolution route again, however, and it’s possible that a species might eventually decide to stand up like humans did.

        The wing things are part of her clothing.

        You’re correct that being bothered by a chin alone is strange, but,

        A) people have weird things that bother them, sometimes illogically

        B) I kinda look at anthropomorphic animals as being evolved from their real world counterparts, so I tend to rationalize things in regards to how they might have evolved. It makes it more believable for me.

        C) iirc, in the context of the movie that specific character is from, thats actually someone’s VR avatar. As such, it makes sense to make human concessions like opposable thumbs, five fingers and toes (cats technically have five toes on each forepaw, four toes on each hind paw), walking plantigrade, etc. A chin seems like an odd concession to make. From the article, it doesn’t really give humans any really evolutionary advantage so it’s not like you’re gonna be unable to do something because you don’t have a chin; and based on what I’ve seen in the furry community, chins on anthros doesn’t really seem to have much of an aesthetic appeal either (otherwise nearly every fursona would have an obvious chin).

        D) It just looks weird. Idk man, it just looks weird to me.

        That said, I don’t tend to mind hybrids or mythical creatures like gryphons, dragons, dragon-cats, or whatever, so idk. It just looks weird to me and I guess the thing about humans being the only ones with chins is a explanation and justification for why I find it weird-looking.

        • lauha@lemmy.oneEnglish
          10·
          2 days ago

          You answered your own question in your own question. Cats could potentially evolve a chin just like they could evolve an opposable thumb

        • Zess@lemmy.worldEnglish
          141·
          3 days ago

          That’s a lot of words just to try and justify posting a picture from your furry porn collection.

  • OldWoodFrame@lemm.eeEnglish
    6·
    2 days ago

    The “spandrel hypothesis” is the front runner explanation. Essentially we didn’t evolve to have chins but rather evolved other things that are helpful, and the chin is a byproduct of that other evolution. Not harmful so it didn’t get selected away, but not helpful.

  • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.worldEnglish
    52·
    3 days ago

    I’m gonna guess the same reason we have big knuckles/fists and men have facial hair. Fighting.

        • Donkter@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5·
          3 days ago

          But you ask anyone who knows anything about fighting and the first thing they tell you to do is to cut your hair short because it’s just an easy handle to grab on to.

      • dohpaz42@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        3 days ago

        As in a signal of how manly a man truly is, comparative to still being a boy.

        Edit: also, hair is counter productive in a fight, because it gives your opponent something to grab a hold of and use against you.

      • southsamurai@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        5·
        3 days ago

        It’s neither beneficial nor an inherent detriment.

        It doesn’t provide enough padding to matter for anything, and the dangers of it bring grabbed are vastly exaggerated (been doing martial arts and grappling in one form or another since jr high, if you count a little wresting then, so over thirty years with breaks here and there, and bearded the entire adult time).

        At best, blows will slide more and cut less, but not enough to really matter. At worst, having it grabbed hurts, which can be a bad distraction, but it isn’t so sturdy as to not be easy to escape. It either pulls loose if their grip is bad, pulls out if their grip is good enough, or makes sure their hands are easy to reach, and allows you an easy access inside their reach.

        Every little pro has a con, and vice versa, with none of it being a deciding factor.

        A ponytail is worse, and a braid worse than that.

        Besides, anyone with a beard that isn’t just full mountain man is going to be oiling or otherwise treating their beard. This makes bare handed grips next to useless on them. And if you’re in a full contact sparring session, you’ll have other options to keep it from being a horrible thing.

        Seriously. I have never once been tapped out because of my beard. I’ve never had any idiot during my years as a bouncer be successful in using it against me. Now, I have had to trim or shave it back because of having wads of it snatched out, but that’s still a very minor issue compared to the other things that can happen in a fight.

        If anything, the fact that people tend to have this weird reaction to a big, bearded guy compared to just a big guy, you get in less fights in my experience outside of training or a job. Going places with a full beard, even drunks wouldn’t fuck with me the way they would other big guys. There’s a bit of some kind of reaction where people think a beard = tough sometimes. No clue why, just that it’s often enough to have noticed.