NationStates Jolt Archive

There are many minor cosmetic differences amoung humans that can be used to lump people together into groups called races. Do all social animals have these cosmetic differences? Probably not. If a dog wants to tell who he is related to she can probably use her sense of smell rather than visual features. However, as human noses aren't as sensitive as dog's, cosmetic features may have taken the place of smell.

As an example, if you were a member of a tribe that had a high proportion of people with monobrows, then the fact that a person has a monobrow would be evidence that person is realted to you and shares some of your genes. If your tribe helps people with monobrows because they are presumably related and hurts people without them, then monobrows could quickly become established as a racial trait in that area. This sort of behavour could result in the very rapid evolution of racial characteristics. Since racial characteristics do seem to have evolved fairly recently, it doesn't seem unreasonable to specualte that something like this may have been going on.

See: Pygmies.

See Also; Barbara Streisand.

See: Pygmies.

See Also; Barbara Streisand.

So, are you mentioning Barbara Streisand as evidence that humans can have an advanced sense of smell?

This is heresy! You must immediately stop acknowleging alluding to or pointing out any differences real or imagined between races or face being hated, called racist and ostracized.

Just stop it right now you loose cannon anthropologiser you!

So, are you mentioning Barbara Streisand as evidence that humans can have an advanced sense of smell?


No, Im suggesting that her large probocis is a perfect example of racial and territorial genetic traits.
Obviously, she comes from a village where hunting/gathering was crucial to survival, and having an over-developed sense of smell was needed to stay wary of predators.

You can hear the result of this characteristic in the piercing, annoying shreik to ward off said predators:

"The way we weeeeere."

Hideous.

No, Im suggesting that her large probocis is a perfect example of racial and territorial genetic traits.
Obviously, she comes from a village where hunting/gathering was crucial to survival, and having an over-developed sense of smell was needed to stay wary of predators.

You can hear the result of this characteristic in the piercing, annoying shreik to ward off said predators:

"The way we weeeeere."

Hideous.

LMAO :p

There are many minor cosmetic differences amoung humans that can be used to lump people together into groups called races. Do all social animals have these cosmetic differences? Probably not. If a dog wants to tell who he is related to she can probably use her sense of smell rather than visual features. However, as human noses aren't as sensitive as dog's, cosmetic features may have taken the place of smell.

I would in fact argue that. As much as we hate the comparison, dog breeds display enormous variety. (Admittedly because we put it there, but similar trait selection could take place naturally.) Different bird subspecies or pygmy chimps versus normal chimps might be a better example.

I would in fact argue that. As much as we hate the comparison, dog breeds display enormous variety. (Admittedly because we put it there, but similar trait selection could take place naturally.) Different bird subspecies or pygmy chimps versus normal chimps might be a better example.

Hmmm... Bonobos (or "pygmy chimpanzees") and common chimpanzees are different species - Pan paniscus and Pan troglodytes. And subspiecies (aka race) biologically exhibit distinct morphological differences and a lack of interbreeding due to geographic isolation.

Hmmm... Bonobos (or "pygmy chimpanzees") and common chimpanzees are different species - Pan paniscus and Pan troglodytes. And subspiecies (aka race) biologically exhibit distinct morphological differences and a lack of interbreeding due to geographic isolation.

Touche about the bonobos. I had a look over the book again, cause I wondered if I might have been wrong about that.... I had them confused with something else, I guess.

As far as subspecies, though, I wonder how much (non-cosmetic) difference there is between them? Could the argument be made that "race" is just a fancy name for "human subspecies"?

There are many minor cosmetic differences amoung humans that can be used to lump people together into groups called races. Do all social animals have these cosmetic differences? Probably not. If a dog wants to tell who he is related to she can probably use her sense of smell rather than visual features. However, as human noses aren't as sensitive as dog's, cosmetic features may have taken the place of smell.
well, untill they make it permissable for me to stick my nose up some woman's crotch without her getting all hissyfit and calling the police on me...