Anthropology | hair color | cute kids | gray elders | animal domestication

Yesterday, one of my daughters asked me about the color of my hair.

I told her that when I was a child, it was more blonde than hers.
Then, when I grew up, my hair became what you would charitably call “dark blonde,” but it is actually the color of a house mouse.
And now, well, unfortunately, it is graying.

Why does hair color change?

I researched the reasons for this color change. As children, we often have lighter hair due to a lower pigment concentration called eumelanin. Over time, as we mature, the amount of eumelanin increases, typically darkening our hair.

However, the plot thickens as we enter into our more dignified years. The color of our hair is also influenced by the production of another pigment, melanin. As we age, the cells responsible for producing melanin (melanocytes) begin to tire out and produce less pigment. This gradual reduction leads to gray and eventually white hair, as our hair lacks the pigment it once had.

The conversation about baby hair made me think.

Why babies are cute?

Babies are cute on purpose.
They are cute, so they are not left behind. Someone will always take care of a left-alone child.

Then I thought about why my hair got darker with age.
Well, when you are of hunting age, having a sandy white plume on top of your head would be highly disadvantageous. I know there are many lifelong blonds and redheads, but more often than not, people darken.

Then why am I graying out?

And for you, young people, it is not because I am falling apart. I am stronger than I was in my beautiful but scrawny 20s.

I can only suppose that if a person in the last 200,000 years lived as long as I did, they were more valuable to share the knowledge with the tribe than to go hunting and get killed by a wooly rhino.

Why are animal pups and kids cute?

Similar logic can be applied to animals: Why are they cute when young? Instead of clubbing them and eating on the spot, it is far more valuable to bring them to the camp and raise them. Sometimes, that leads to the creation of a herd of goats, sheep, or cows, and sometimes to the domestication of the wolf.

Other animals do not lend themselves to domestication. However, many animals can be semi-domesticated, which means they are not really afraid of you in the wild.

Of course, these ideas are not novel. Disappointedly, after a quick search, I found and ordered Donna Haraway's The Companion Species Manifesto. I will report on it once it arrives.

https://amzn.to/44zec92