(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists compared the DNA of 62 animals and found out why people are the most hairless. It turned out that we have the genes for full body hair, but they were turned off.
It is noted that the same thing happened to some other mammals, including the ancestors of rhinos, naked mole rats and dolphins.
The hairless animals the researchers studied had mutations in the same genes, including those that promote hair growth.
Scientists have studied more than 19,000 genes in dozens of mammalian species. “As animals are under evolutionary pressure to lose their hair, the genes that code for them become less important.
That’s why they accelerate the rate of genetic change allowed by natural selection. Some genetic changes can cause hair loss. Others may be collateral damage after hair growth stops,” the researchers noted.
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