The Evolution of Man

[Polar]

@brotherbear,

To adapt to the cold, it may be that Neanderthals (both males and females) had a greater total body mass than modern humans do (or greater than humans back then). Not only that, but I would hypothesize that there seems to be a limiter to the amount of fat or muscle one can have in freezing weather: too much fat mass rids the body of muscular-generated heat and paralysis can occur, and too much muscle mass doesn't have that initial layer of protection that fat has. So, there has to be a very specific compromise between % of body-fat of % of muscle mass to live in these sort of climates.

Perhaps this is the reason why polar bears are best adapted to freezing temperatures unlike most animals: they have that perfect or near perfect ratio of muscle mass/body-fat within their total mass. Neanderthals (and other humans in the same environment) might have followed this rule. Reply