Humans confused over reason why we have butt hair on our bodies

Have you ever wondered why humans have hair on their butt?

I'm talking to you, person who is reading article and probably has a hairy bum they're eager to know more about.

We get hair in all sorts of places at different times of our lives so why did mother nature decided that a person's posterior of all places is a perfect spot for hair?

You can see the hair on most other parts of your body with relative ease but if you want to get a good look at your butt hair it takes either strategic placement of mirrors or quite a bit of twisting.

For some reason there's not been a great deal of scientific research into the topic of butt hair, they seem to be more occupied with making great and historic discoveries.

Fear not, as the folks over at IFL Science have found some research on this crucial topic conducted by YouTube channel SciShow.

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According to the experts there are a few schools of thought as to why we have hairy ars*s, with one being that there seems to be no real evolutionary downside to it so it stays.

While you might think about your butt hair often enough to be reading this it likely doesn't impact you or your chance of having children very much and thus it stays as a feature of the human race.

Remember, in evolution it's the traits that make a creature unfit for its environment which spell doom, so it's possible that a forest of follicles on your bum just isn't a disadvantage that's going to be lost to time.

Another scientific suggestion is that butt hair actually has a tangible benefit in the form of boosting our 'anal scent' (their words, not mine).

If you're wondering what the hell that means and why it might be a benefit, it's possibly that early man relied more on having a smelly bum to mark territory and attract mates.

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Before you go updating your Tinder profile to mention that your bum stinks please remember that we don't really attract people with our 'anal scent' any more, at least not people we'd want to meet.

Plus we mark out our territory in other ways these days, the day cartography was invented that was it for the 'anal scent' crew.

One final school of thought suggests that perhaps the hair is just there to avoid anal chafing, as it's part of the body where there's quite a bit of jiggling and rubbing.

Hair can trap essential oils and keep crevices well lubricated, so maybe that's why humans have butt hair.

Topics: Weird, Science, Health

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker