# Hairlessness Helped Make Humans a New Kind of Primate by Judith Rich Harris > “The Neanderthals disappeared when Homo sapiens, who by then had learned the art of sewing, took over Europe and Asia. This new species, descended from a southern branch of Homo erectus, was unique among primates in being hairless. In their view, anything with fur on it could be classified as "animal"—or, to put it more bluntly, game. Neanderthal disappeared in Europe for the same reason the woolly mammoth disappeared there: the ancestors of the modern Europeans ate them. In Africa today, hungry humans eat the meat of chimpanzees and gorillas.” > **— Judith Rich Harris**, *2005, Edge Annual Question, “What Do You Believe Is True Even Though You Cannot Prove It?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Writer and Developmental Psychologist; Author, The Nurture Assumption](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11509) — Edge published this exact passage in its 2005 Annual Question collection, *WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IS TRUE EVEN THOUGH YOU CANNOT PROVE IT?*. The response page preserves the surrounding argument and qualifications. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2005 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2005 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the complete response cohort and this passage's promotion status. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|Valley Roots]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|Never Going to Make It!]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Evolutionary Biology|Evolutionary Biology]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Evolutionary Biology|Evolutionary Biology]] - [[wiki/Species-Level Maturation|Species-Level Maturation]] - [[wiki/Convergent Evolution|Convergent Evolution]] - [[wiki/Coevolution|Coevolution]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “The Neanderthals disappeared when Homo sapiens, who by then had learned the art of sewing, took over Europe and Asia. This new species, descended from a southern branch of Homo erectus, was unique among primates in being hairless. In their view, anything with fur on it could be classified as "animal"—or, to put it more bluntly, game. Neanderthal disappeared in Europe for the same reason the woolly mammoth disappeared there: the ancestors of the modern Europeans ate them. In Africa today, hungry humans eat the meat of chimpanzees and gorillas.” — Judith Rich Harris, 2005, Edge Annual Question, “What Do You Believe Is True Even Though You Cannot Prove It?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-judith-harris-hairlessness-helped-make-humans-new ```