Surprise, Surprise! Human Canines Are Not For Biting Food, They Help Fight To Win Females

Dhir Acharya - Apr 24, 2020


Surprise, Surprise! Human Canines Are Not For Biting Food, They Help Fight To Win Females

A lot of animals on Earth have teeth, especially canines, the long, pointy front teeth in the mouth. And we have our own human canines too.

A lot of animals on Earth have teeth, especially canines, the long, pointy front teeth in the mouth. Lion, hippos, among millions of species, have them. And we humans have canines too. In fact, canines are the longest teeth in our mouth. What jobs do you think human canines are in charge of, ripping meat? If that’s your answer, you’re wrong, like many others. And here’s the true answer.

Lion, hippos, among millions of species, have canines
Lion, hippos, among millions of species, have canines

In the modern world, canines in men are 10 percent longer than those in women, and this length difference has been seen in other species too, such as gorillas. The difference is even bigger between male and female gorillas, 100 percent, meaning male gorillas have canines twice the length of those in female gorillas.

The reason is that in their society, male gorillas have to compete to secure an exclusive mating right to the whole female troop. A male gorilla that has the longest, most intimidating set of fangs often wins. Over time, this species has evolved to have even longer canines.

Male gorillas fight for mate rights with their teeth
Male gorillas fight for mate rights with their teeth

The evolution is reversed for human, our canines have got shorter over time. You can see the obvious change by looking at the first humans, Australopithecus anamensis or Ardipithecus ramidus.

That makes us today have the shortest canines ever recorded in humans along with the decrease in length differences between men and women canines. The reason behind this trend is that unlike our ancestors and gorillas, human men no longer fight with their teeth. But it remains unclear why we just stopped fighting for a mate.

Modern men have the shortest canines ever recorded in humans
Modern men have the shortest canines ever recorded in humans

Our modern canines now help us bite food, nothing else. They are not big or long enough to intimidate anyone or any other species.

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