Disclaimer to begin with. There is nothing racist about this post or the topic. Of course not all Africans have large lips and not all Caucasians have small lips and of course large and small are relative.
The question that is being addressed is, how come most African Americans have larger lips and a wider Nose compared to, lets say white Americans.
In general, this pattern can be observed across the planet with the size of lips and nose decreasing as we move away from the equator towards the poles. So what could the reason be?
| (Average) Lips and Nose across different races |
Given the pattern, it is an easy guess that the size of lips and nose has got something to do with the Climatic Conditions and that humans have evolved to fit into their world. The reasoning goes as follows.
Lips: For someone living in hot climatic conditions, cooling down the body is critical for their survival. Our body has many cooling mechanisms and one of them is simply disseminating Heat when it comes in contact with Colder Air (simple thermodynamics). This however requires larger surface area so that more heat can be disseminated.
Given that a significant portion of breathing also happens through the mouth (especially when exposed to heat), lips are pretty much like the gateway for colder air being inhaled and exhaled. So, the larger the lips, the more heat that can be disseminated. Thus, people living in hotter climatic conditions gradually evolved to have bigger lips.
The opposite is true for people in colder climates. They get a survival advantage if they are able to retain as much heat as possible and so they gradually evolved to have smaller lips thus limiting the amount of heat that can escape when cold air brushes past their lips while inhaling and exhaling.
Nose: Its pretty much for the same reason as with the lips. Nose is the most important part when it comes to contact with colder air and having a bigger surface area helps with cooling.
There is one other advantage with a Wider Nose though. Physical activity in a hotter climate is more demanding than when it is cool (because the body needs to spend some energy just for the cooling processes) and thus the body requires more oxygen. Having a wider nose and nostrils facilitates breathing in more air thereby supplying the body with more oxygen and thus giving a survival advantage in the evolutionary race.
Did the simple science for kids in this post make you a little smarter?
If you have any ideas / questions you want to learn about, please leave a note in the comments section.
Would be glad to know if there are any inaccuracies in the article.
Did the simple science for kids in this post make you a little smarter?
If you have any ideas / questions you want to learn about, please leave a note in the comments section.
Would be glad to know if there are any inaccuracies in the article.
