Going to come out of eight years of Twitter lurking to try and answer some basic problems of human variation, first one being: "why are Polynesians so big and strong?", with implications for some Europeans too. @Steve_Sailer , @gcochran99, @espressosoldo , @bronzeagemantis
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I think this question has been answered by Philip Houghton at Otago, who noticed that Polynesians don't fit into Allen's rule of limb proportions: they should be long armed to dissipate tropical heat, but instead they seem to have some of the shortest limbs outside the Eskimo.
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Anthropologists around the world have constructed models to predict height based on the length of the femur, but as proportions vary models don't apply across continents. This is what happens when these equations try to predict the height of the Maori:pic.twitter.com/VHUB5zRWq8
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In addition to possessing short absolute arms, Polynesia are especially shriveled up at the distal part of the limb where heat is lost the fastest, in keeping with the patterns seen in Eskimo, Saami, and Neanderthals:
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Skull shape has been shown to track latitude fairly well, with longer headed populations inhabiting tropical climates, their heads being easier to cool. A spherical, brachycephic skull better conserves heat and that polar feature is again seen in people like Hawaiians:pic.twitter.com/a2apgewTYE
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Replying to @crimkadid
that doesn't fly within Europe. the north isn't tropical.
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I noticed that! And so have anthropologists doing big meta-analyses. Swedes are some of the world's biggest outliers in that respect: should be short and broad faced, instead really long and narrow. That's a specifically NW Euro thing, and I'm going to tweet about it soon.
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Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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