I'm not sure this question even makes sense

[james_davis_nicoll]

But why are humans so drab compared to, say, birds? Is it just that mammals in general have lousy color vision (although ours is better than average) and that we're descended from animals that wouldn't have been able to make use of a wide variety of fur colors or is it that there's something about fur and hair that inherently limits its palette?

I will admit this ranks lower on my "inherent human features that require fixing" than the vitamin C thing, particularly given the existance of non-toxic dyes.

Comments

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that makes sense. But how would a mouse do against a sparrow?

Maybe being more smell-oriented is actually more important than "intelligence" for this. The speed and range of flying made scent less useful and sight more, so birds developed better sight and less good smell? And their mating strategies use their strengths, as do mammals'?

[trogon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think you'll get a lot farther here than with intelligence; most birds have no sense of smell, after all.

I still think most of it's due to the physical structure of fur vs. feathers, though.