I don't know if you have heard the joke. Q: Why are the nostrils of orangutans so big? A: Because their fingers are thick. Of course, this is a joke, but it is a fact that orangutans can pick their nostrils.

get to the point and answer this question.

First, distinguish between gorillas and orangutans. In terms of big nostrils, gorillas may be slightly better;

Second, the size is relative. The nostrils of gorillas are indeed larger than those of modern people, but the nostrils of Australopithecus and homo habilis are not small either. Moreover, not only the size of nostrils is different, but also the nose type is very different. Orangutans and gorillas

Orangutans and gorillas are actually very easy to distinguish, because orangutans are very recognizable, that is, their hair is red, so orangutans are also called? Orangutans? . In addition, orangutans and gorillas are completely different from each other in terms of habitat, appearance and way of life.

Habitat: Orangutans live in Asia, and now they are mainly distributed on two islands in Southeast Asia, one is kalimantan island and the other is Sumatra. They usually live in tropical rain forests. Gorillas live near the equator in Africa and are divided into lowland gorillas in western Africa and mountain gorillas in central and eastern Africa according to their living places. Low-lying gorillas gather in tropical rain forests, while mountain gorillas live above 3 meters above sea level.

appearance: besides sparse red hair, what is the most iconic feature of orangutans? Big face plate? Cheek pouches, to be exact, will get bigger and bigger with age, especially for male orangutans. The appearance of gorillas can refer to King Kong. They have thick black hair, and silver-gray hair will grow on the back of male adult gorillas, which is what people often say? Silver-backed gorilla .

way of life: orangutans have short legs and long arms. They can neither walk freely and quickly among trees like gibbons nor walk like gorillas? Comfortable The ground moves on the ground. They spend most of their time in trees and occasionally go down to the ground, but they can only walk on the outside of their feet and their knuckles. Gorillas are relatively heavy, so it is difficult for them to climb trees, so they move on the ground most of the time and climb trees only when they sleep. Gorillas also walk with their knuckles and feet and occasionally stand upright. Nose and Nose

The nostrils of gorillas are indeed very large compared with those of modern people, but what if they are compared with those of ancient people millions of years ago? Far away, we can learn a thing or two from the restoration maps of Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

From the restoration map, at least before Homo erectus, early humans had? Big nostrils? Then the new question is, how did paleoanthropologists recover the appearance of these ancient humans?

the answers are fossils and genes. The restoration map is first established on the basis of bone fossils, among skull fossils? Anterior nasal spine? The degree of development directly determines whether the nose is high or low, according to the French anthropologist Paul? The division of Bailuojia can divide the development degree of human anterior nasal spine into five grades, and the nose becomes higher from grade 1 to grade 5. In other words, according to the anterior nasal spine, the direction of the nose can be judged and speculated.

The second is genetic evidence, that is, by comparing the DNA extracted from the fossils of modern people and ancient people, the genetic relationship between them can be inferred, and the appearance of modern people can be used as a reference for restoration.

It can be seen that the nose of ancient humans before Homo erectus was low and the nostrils were not small, but the nostrils began to change since Homo erectus, and the reason was the change of living environment. As Homo erectus first walked out of Africa about 2 million years ago, the environment they faced was different. The temperature and humidity were different from the original habitat. In order to adapt to this change, the body began to change slowly: the legs became longer and longer, the arms became shorter and shorter, the eyesight became better and better, the sense of smell became worse and worse, the hands became more flexible, and the brain became more and more easy to use?

In these changes, the height of the nose is related to the respiratory system. A tall and slender nose with small nostrils can allow enough time for the inhaled cold air to warm up in the nasal cavity, while a flat and short nose with large nostrils is more convenient for heat dissipation. This is what we often say that environmental differences make? Europeans have high noses and Asians have low noses? In fact, this is a more general statement. As far as modern people's nose types and nostrils are concerned, they can be divided into concave, straight, convex and wave types according to the different side shapes of the nose. The nose type directly affects the shape of the nostrils, with a high nose corresponding to a thin oval nostril and a low nose corresponding to a flat and wide oval nostril.

Finally, back to the gorilla, the gorilla's habitat hasn't changed much, so its nose doesn't need to evolve like human beings, so it's not so much that the gorilla's nostrils are bigger, but that human nostrils are getting smaller and smaller.