Evolutionist and primatologist of the University of Ryukyus, in Japan, Akiko Matsumoto-Oda has been dealing with Santa’s years, in particular wild ones who live in Kenya. The baboons are among the most aggressive and violent records even among them, and over the years Matsumoto-Oda has been able to see in the first person how often these monkeys are hurt-and above all how little they put their wounds to heal.
They do it much faster than ours, and the baboons are not the only ones to have this feature: on the contrary, as we read in a study published on Proceedings of the Royal Society B, We are humans the exception, the species (among those studied) in which the wounds close more slowly.
Injuries for everyone! The study was conducted in the laboratory, comparing the closing times of the wounds of a series of different animals. They were there five chimpanzees “lent” by the Kumamoto Sanctuary, which hosts monkeys previously used in pharmaceutical research. They were there green babbuinsthe “inspiring” subjects of the study, Cercopitechi white throat and green cupcotheches. Finally, they were there Tops and ratsto have A comparison with species more distant from us humans than the monkeys.
All animals have been subjected to anesthesia and subsequent surgery, however, turns not to close a wound, but to open it; Healing was then carefully monitored and measured. In the experiment they were also involved 24 humansall oncological patients who had just been removed a skin tumor, so as to have a fresh wound without the need to cause it on purpose.
The great compromise. The comparison between wound healing rates is merciless: The skin of human beings is folded of 0.25 mm per day medium, while that of primatesbut also gods rodentsat a rhythm of 0.62 mm per day – almost triple ours. Another interesting detail, there were no significant differences between the healing rate of primates and rodents: the exception is we humans.
The reason for this discrepancy is to be found in the hair, or in its absence: In fact, the totipotent cells of the hair follicles repair the skin wounds, which in primates and rodents are many and dense in the rodents. Humans have less, and in their place they have the sweat glands, which allow us to keep the skin fresh but which are not as effective to repair the wounds. It is the compromise that allowed us to evolve and grow our brain, keeping it fresh thanks to sweat: in return we had to give up a little of our ability to heal the wounds.
