Do humans have the longest hair of any animal?
I tried googling this and it wasn’t helpful. I couldn’t find any mammals with hair longer than humans’ but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
Humans, unlike most animals, have a means of cutting their hair. Some choose not to, and it grows up to 7 feet before falling out.
It would definitely be an evolutionary disadvantage to have 7 feet of hair. There are only two cases I can think of where this would happen:
- Runaway sexual selection, like in peacocks
- Domestication and artificial selection
Of all the animals we’ve domesticated, there’s one that stands out for its hair: sheep. Sheep have been bred to have wool that keeps growing and growing unless humans cut it off. Sheep that escape and live in the wild for years eventually become overburdened with excess wool.
It’s possible, in my mind, that one strand of hair from these extremely matted and woolly escaped sheep could rival the hair of a human who never cuts it. But it would be animal abuse to breed a sheep like that on purpose: they would overheat and have to carry pounds and pounds of wool.
Humans are the only creatures who can consent to having an impractical amount of hair, so I think we should win. We also win for animal that throws best, though not brain-to-body ratio like I initially thought.
Anyway if you know any biologists who know for sure, let me know!