22 Little-Known Evolutionary Traits of Human Beings

‘Newborn human infants can hold onto your fingers with enough grip to support their own weight’
22 Little-Known Evolutionary Traits of Human Beings

The modern human is the product of millennia of evolution. We’re not perfect, of course, but we’re also one of the only species able to open and enjoy a can of Diet Coke, which is pretty fucking good. The price we paid? Crippling depression and existential sorrow, I suppose.

Besides our soda-opening, sword-grabbing opposable thumbs, we’re positively studded with other evolutionary features that might not be as obvious. For example, we make a big deal about our ability to stand, yet our toes receive nothing but derision. It’s cruel, given the amount of balance they provide. 

Below, Redditors share other evolutionary features we take for granted, including the annoying shrieks of a crying baby.

pinkofascist 8y ago . Edited 8y ago Newborn human infants can hold onto your fingers with enough grip to support their own weight, They also have a walking reflex if you plump their feet onto a flat surface. And if you fake a drop they'll fling their arms out to try to catch onto something, they'll make swimming motions in water.
Lostsonofpluto . 8y ago Edited 8y ago IIRC we are genetically able to interbreed with other species of the genus Homo. But as we are the last remaining species in that genus, this is effectively useless. In fact, most modern humans have traces of neanderthal DNA from a time when interspecies procreation was common amongst humans.
LarrcasM 8y ago The reason our mouths don't bite down with as much force as a primate or any similar relative is because the muscle that connects your jaw to the side of your head shrank allowing us to have more room for our brains to grow and thus flourish as a species.
Humans have superior X-Y sound location. This means we're good at locating the direction and height of sounds. The reason why dogs tilt their heads (cutely) is that this assists them in locating the height of sounds.
8y ago Lactase persistence. The ability to digest milk in adulthood. The vast majority of mammals cannot efficiently digest milk as an adult. Some humans evolved the ability to digest milk relatively recently, like the last 10,000 years. Worldwide, most people still cannot digest milk as an adult and have some level of lactose intolerance. Wikipedia link.
8y ago Look around the room without focusing on something. Your vision kind of jumps around. Now hold out your finger in front of your face, focus on that, and look around the room. Your vision should follow it smoothly. Its some sort of trick your brain does in order to scan an environment efficiently, and follow prey. Another cool eye fact. If you focus on something and move your head, your eyes will automatically stay focused on it. Seems simple but your brain is instantly calculating how much to each eye has to move individually in order to
capntocino . 8y ago I've heard that our eyebrows exist to divert sweat so it doesn't get in our eyes.
8y ago Humans are exceptionally good at throwing things. Many other primates can throw, but they are generally not very good at it, and it's more of a deterrent (think baboons throwing their own shit at intruders) than anything else. Throwing for humans is a weapon. Our body is perfectly adapted to throw things with a lot of force and great accuracy.
SpehlingAirer . 8y ago How well our body and mind can adapt to new environments, sensations, and situations. It's crazy how well we adapt to new and different things.
misterkro a 8y ago There is a reason why young children like sweet food so much. It's because sugar is the easiest nutrient for the body to process into energy, and when the body starts developing, it's really the only nutrient. 177 ...
misterbrazyho 8y ago If you have a tendon that sticks out from the underside of your wrist, you are actually only part of some 70%-76% of the general population that has that. Human evolution has removed that tendon from a fraction of the general population as it no longer serves a purpose. It used to be necessary for allowing the wrist to rotate, but we have grown out of it at this point.
jayperales . 8y ago Calluses are natural armor supposedly. Coming from someone who's been picking up guitar. Pretty neat and beneficial.
novags500 . 8y ago The crying/screams of a baby are suppose to be extremely annoying. This is to get us to take care of them which increases their chance of surviving infancy.
WhimsyUU . 8y ago This isn't little-known, but the reasons kinda are. The general consensus is that we're the only species that cries emotionally. Having such a visible sign of sadness probably helps us feel empathy towards other humans. It also helps keep the peace so we can form productive societies, since it's basically an emergency secretion of stress hormones.
Guy_Onthe_Internet . 8y ago The mammalian dive reflex! Such a cool adaptation that hardly anyone gets to experience, but everyone should. Get into freediving! Once you know what is happening, you think, damn, good job body, I didn't know you could do this
. 8y ago Babies can breathe and swallow at the same time but as they grow older they lose that ability
DoubleClickMouse . 8y ago If you look into your own eyes in the mirror and tilt your head a little back and forth, your eyes will turn in the socket to stay relatively horizontal. This is merely a small part of our developed object tracking reflexes.
. 8y ago The brains ability to burn other ketone bodies besides glucose. It is uniquely human and we are the only known animal to be able to do this.
sassy_but_classy . 8y ago Fainting at the sight of blood is an evolutionary survival technique. Basically it's like involuntarily playing dead and was used by cavemen to survive bloody massacres
drunky_crowette . 8y ago When you jerk awake when you're about to fall asleep? That's the part of your monkey brain that is saying FUCK DON'T FALL OFF THE TREE!
boxpear 8y ago Human hands have evolved to throw punches with minimal damage, and human faces have evolved to take them. Billions of years of evolution have aligned so that you can challenge strangers to fistfights in the parking lot behind Denny's.
CanisMaximus 8y ago Reduction in coarse hair on our bodies and the ability to sweat enabled us to become the world's champion long-distance runners.

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