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existenceproof

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Aug 16, 2006 23:53

Went to the dentist today. They think I was born without wisdom teeth, but aren't sure. They'd need more x-rays of the back of my jaw to see if there are any extra teeth hanging around. Usually after the cleaning the real dentist comes in for a second to say hi, and today I was going to ask him why humans have lips. I've been thinking about this a ( Read more... )

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tywysoges August 17 2006, 06:57:51 UTC

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What do you mean only humans have lips?

existenceproof August 17 2006, 07:06:27 UTC

Our lips are distinguished from the rest of our mouths. You can unambiguously draw lines separating lips from the other parts of our face. Dogs do not have lips in this sense.

Follow-up observation: animals seem to either have face-lips and vaginal lips, like humans, or neither, like dogs and horses. Have you ever seen an animal, besides a human or monkey, with vaginal lips? I wasn't going to ask my dentist about that one, but it seems tied up in the larger lip enigma.

tywysoges August 17 2006, 07:09:33 UTC

Horses, rhinos and many other animals have prehensile face-lips, way more useful than ours will ever be.

tywysoges August 17 2006, 07:14:07 UTC

Also mares do have obvious labia.. you can see them "wink" when she's in heat.

tywysoges August 17 2006, 07:20:18 UTC

Actually... have you ever looked at a cat or a dog? Of course they have lips. The tissue and colouring is different and they're not furry.

Are you just joking around to get a reaction, or are you serious????

existenceproof August 17 2006, 14:06:00 UTC

Regardless of which mammals have lips, many don't. They must have evolved for a reason. (The only pets I had growing up were cats, which in my book do NOT have lips.)

tywysoges August 17 2006, 14:19:38 UTC

Ah, but what you said was that only humans have lips.

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/images/rotem_2.jpg this cat has lips!

existenceproof August 18 2006, 01:26:14 UTC

Fine, you win. I edited the original entry to be wishy-washy about the extent to which mammals have lips.

Anyway, even if all mammals have lips, you at least concede that lizards do not, right? clearly everything with a mouth has an area directly around the mouth, but I still contend that in humans it has become unusually - and mysteriously - specialized.

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