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gedaliyah@lemmy.world to Today I Learned@lemmy.worldEnglish · 11 months ago

TIL humans are the only animal with a chin. We aren't sure why.

www.smithsonianmag.com

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TIL humans are the only animal with a chin. We aren't sure why.

www.smithsonianmag.com

gedaliyah@lemmy.world to Today I Learned@lemmy.worldEnglish · 11 months ago
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A Chin-Stroking Mystery: Why Are Humans the Only Animals With Chins?
www.smithsonianmag.com
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It's an evolutionary conundrum, and scientists are still divided over the answer
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  • Beardsley@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Idk, I was assured that pigs had a chinny-chin-chin.

    • Repple (she/her)@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Growing up half Japanese I could never help laughing at that story as chinchin means penis in Japanese, and I think everyone should share in this amusement.

      • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        “Not by the hair on my dick, fuckface!”

        I think Green Jellÿ should use that.

        • PythagreousTitties@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          Green Jelly Suxs!

          • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Bill’s whole show is just people running around in huge puppet heads chanting that interspersed with Three Little Pigs.

            I highly recommend it. Even I had a hard time being drunk while sweating everything out due to the heavy cardio.

      • Bo7a@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        I will carry this sacred knowledge for the remainder of my fleeting time on this rock.

        And giggle.

      • delirious_owl@discuss.online
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        11 months ago

        So it translates to a chin-like penis?

        • Grass@sh.itjust.works
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          11 months ago

          more like peeny penis or didi dick

      • 𝕊𝕞𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕞 𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕔@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        deleted by creator

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOP
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      11 months ago

      That’s the exact lead in of the Atlantic article about this (paywall)

  • blindbunny@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    Have you seen humans without chins? That’s why

    • Rognaut@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      • delirious_owl@discuss.online
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        11 months ago

        Obviously its because of the lighting

    • datavoid@lemmy.ml
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      11 months ago

      My grandma said I was the most handsome boy… Are you calling my dead grandmother a liar?!

      • Zoidsberg@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        Yep

  • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldBanned
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    11 months ago

    • cm0002@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      • Rob T Firefly@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Image of the Tick (from the comic of the same name)

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOP
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      11 months ago

      Truly superhuman.

  • Mossy Feathers (She/Her)@pawb.social
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    11 months ago

    This is why it bothers me when artists add chins to animalistic characters. It looks so wrong. An example:

    Like, shit. Cool character design but you gave the cat lady a chin. Cats don’t have chins, why did you give her a chin?

    • odelik@lemmy.today
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      11 months ago

      You’re complaining about a chin on an anthropomorphic cat woman that only has 2 breast’s instead of 6 to 8…

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 months ago

        Based and put-more-titties-on-that-cat pilled

    • this_1_is_mine@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Why does it look like she has nipple piercings that couldn’t be contained.

      • DAMunzy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 months ago

        Thanks, new kink unlocked.

    • Etterra@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Burn it.

    • delirious_owl@discuss.online
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      11 months ago

      Isn’t the point of this art to be an anthropomorphic cat? In that case, the chin is appropriate

      • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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        11 months ago

        except, as you can see, it makes them look terrifying, not like a cat.

        you want khajiit, not Cats 2019

    • tamal3@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I see a chin on my cat?

      • BigFig@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        You see a chin area yes, but it is simply the bottom of the jaw. The human chin has actual muscle that goes below the jaw bone and can be moved ever so slightly which aids in facial expression.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentalis?wprov=sfla1

      • Mossy Feathers (She/Her)@pawb.social
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        11 months ago

        As bigfig said, your cat probably doesn’t have a chin. That said, you might consider feeling your cat’s chin to see if it’s actually a chin and not just fluff or something.

        If you feel a boney protrusion similar to a human’s chin, then you should unironically contact an evolutionary researcher. They might be fascinated about your cat having an actual chin as humans and only humans (not even neanderthals) are the only known chin-havers. Who knows, your cat might be the “missing link” between chinned and chinless humanoids.

        • PythagreousTitties@lemm.ee
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          I scratch my cats chin all the time. What are you on about? (Edit: I be wrong. There’s no chin there)

          https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-8be44/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/2549/4697/CatSkeletalAnatomy__24888.1345374154.jpg?c=2

          • AwesomeLowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            11 months ago

            Jaw vs chin, I’m guessing the difference is fairly small.

            • PythagreousTitties@lemm.ee
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              11 months ago

              Looked at wiki. The chin apparently is just the part of bone that juts out under the lower lip. So yeah, no chin on the cat.

    • Sorgan71@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Call me shane dawson because I wanna put my dick near this cat.

      • THCDenton@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

      • AwesomeLowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 months ago

        I believe in not kink shaming, but that’s just TMI

      • OozingPositron@feddit.cl
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        11 months ago

        lmao

  • mearce@programming.dev
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    11 months ago

    TIL chins are only chins because they stick out. I had always considered the front of a lower jaw to be a “chin”.

    • Blackrook7@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      In other words some people really have no chin…

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Of course we know why. So that evolution could result in the universe’s most perfect being.

    • Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      Groovy

    • MonkderDritte@feddit.de
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      11 months ago

      Of course we know why. So that evolution could result in the universe’s most perfect being patchwork.

    • dditty@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

    • niktemadur@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      If Chins Could Kill

  • cabron_offsets@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Peak humanity

      • PythagreousTitties@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        The New Chad

  • erp@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    If I am not mistaken, according to the grammatical scrolls, having a chin makes everyone … chinese

    • ikidd@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      More chins than a Chinese phone book.

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOP
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      11 months ago

      Boooooooo

      (take my upvote)

  • murmelade@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    deleted by creator

    • robolemmy@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Speaking of chins with bony protrusions

      • CptEnder@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Believe it or not that picture was taken with the JWST in orbit. To fit her chin in frame.

      • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Tell me about this chin.

    • shyguyblue@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I’ll always upvote a Qi reference

      • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
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        11 months ago

        They say of the Acropolis where the Parthenon is

        • MrVilliam@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          They say of the Acropolis where the Parthenon is

          • Soggy@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Howany moons does the Earth have?

          • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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            11 months ago

            HE’S GONNA SAY HE’S GONNA SAY
            HE’S GOING TOO SAAAAAAAAAAY

            about the acropoliiiis
            where the parthenoooon iiiiiiis

  • Pulptastic@midwest.social
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    If other animals don’t have chins, they’re using a weird definition of chin.

  • jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world
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    “If you’re looking across all of the hominids, which is the family tree after the split with chimpanzees, there [are] not really that many traits that we can point to that we can say are exclusively human,” Duke University’s James Pampush tells Robert Siegel for NPR. “[T]hose animals all walked on two legs. The one thing that really sticks out is the chin.”

    One of the most popular ideas is that our ancestors evolved chins to strengthen our lower jaws to withstand the stresses of chewing. But according to Pampush, the chin is in the wrong place to reinforce the jaw. As for helping us speak, he doubts that the tongue generates enough force to make this necessary. A third idea is that the chin could help people choose mates, but sexually selective features like this typically only develop in one gender, Pampush tells Siegel.

    The spandrel hypothesis is as good a theory as any, but it too has its problems. It’s hard to find evidence to test if something is an evolutionary byproduct, especially if it doesn’t serve an obvious function. But if researchers one day do manage to figure out where the chin came from, it could put together another piece of the puzzle of what makes us different from our primate and Neanderthal cousins, Yong writes.

    • andyburke@fedia.io
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      The dismissal of a sexually selected trait just because it usually is far more pronounced in one sex than the other seems extemely premature to me.

      I would argue chins are actually already quite different between the sexes - to the point where people will have surgery to change their appearance if their chin doesn’t conform to societal ideals.

      Sexually selected trait seems like an avenue of research that shouldn’t be so easily dismissed.

      • No_Eponym@lemmy.ca
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        hard to find evidince

        This is, like, an undergrad project.

        1. work with the depressed grad student who is good at stats to determine the parameters of your experiment at the outset and calculate the number of subjects and stimuli for statistical power; pay in marking or research help.

        2. get an appropriate number of headshots from undergrad males for stimuli, give them intro psyc course credit for participating.

        3. work with mid-degree graphic design students to give all headshots 3 levels of chins (low, normal, emphasized), ensuring none are comical; the the psyc grad student signs off on the work as portfolio credit

        4. have an appropriate number of undergrad cis-het women subjects rate a your lineup for attractiveness; intro psyc course credit for participation

        5. analyze the results to see if low chin is selected less than normal or emphasized.

        6. submit your research paper and results; get your 4th year class capstone. Grad student takes your work and adds it to their dissertation, you get a footnote.

        I’m sure this has been done…

        • Azzu@lemm.ee
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          I don’t have a source on hand, but I’m sure that a pronounced chin has been found in studies as male attractiveness symbol

    • owenfromcanada@lemmy.world
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      The one thing that really sticks out is the chin.

      I see what you did there

  • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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    I figure walking upright made being hit from below more common, necessitating thicker bones to protect the very sensitive nerves of the jaw.

  • Twinkletoes@lemm.ee
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    Some humans even have double

    • muse@fedia.io
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      deleted by creator

      • Iheartcheese@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Would.

        • I'm back on my BS 🤪@lemmy.autism.place
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          11 months ago

          https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4L56DPmFl8w&si=a_K_09lxXgRrlndG

          • Iheartcheese@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            ive never seen a youtube music link in my life lol

            • delirious_owl@discuss.online
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              11 months ago

              What does it do different?

              • Iheartcheese@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                The only plus ive ever heard is getting youtube premium with it.

                • delirious_owl@discuss.online
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                  No, I mean what does linking with the subdomain do for folks who don’t have accounts?

  • THCDenton@lemmy.world
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  • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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    The “spandrel hypothesis” is the front runner explanation. Essentially we didn’t evolve to have chins but rather evolved other things that are helpful, and the chin is a byproduct of that other evolution. Not harmful so it didn’t get selected away, but not helpful.

    • MonkderDritte@feddit.de
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      11 months ago

      But chin is one of the points determining attractivity in males?

      • AstralPath@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        If you’re perpetually online, maybe? The only time you should give a shit about your chin is if you have an abnormally absent one. Like Andrew Tate for example.

        • Custodian1623@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          so yes?

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