Why do humans have a protruding nose?

Question

Most mammals either have a flat nose or a snout, on which their nose is flat.

So why do humans have a protruding nose?

Answer 1

Bohemian has it. If you look at monkeys in cold places, like Hokaido, they also have large noses. Apes in Africa live in warm jungle places.

Answer 2

We would be d**n ugly without produding noses,

Thanks goodness we have the noses we do!

Answer 3

Mating ritual - the guy with the big nose gets the cool chicks

Answer 4

Protruding nose helps humans filter dust, dirt, and such out when we live in dry, dusty places, like the African savahna.  Noses, especially larger, fleshier ones are extremely helpful to warm air as we breath in cold climates (or especially during ice ages).  That helps us conserve callories.

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

Almost all apes, and monkeys live in moist, forested areas. Think of where chimps, and gorillas are...temperant forests. They have rain, but they do not have snow or dust.

Think of one of the few apes that DOES live where it is dry and dusty, the baboon. Huge muzzle/snout on them. Think of the Japanese Macaques who live where it snows. They have a more pronounced nose, and much longer nasal passage to warm the air they breath than most monkeys. Still a relatively small nose, but a very long nasal passage to warm up that cold air.

Also, if you believe in evolution, humans did at one time have faces more like chimps, with those large lower jaws, giving us a bit more of a muzzle like appearance. As humans left the forests behind to the chimps, and gorillas, and ventured out onto the open plains, our diets changed greatly. For a while we kept those huge jaws, because we ate a lot of nut like things. Then as our diets began to include more meat, and not so much roughage, our lower jaw that was so great at grinding masses of roughage shrank. Our noses grew, to help keep the dust or cold out.

Answer 5

Well since God made us in his form he obviously has a protruding nose and thinks its beautiful and it distinguishes us from other species! Just be grateful we don't have a trunk like the elephant :)

Answer 6

almost all primates have prognathism (face that sticks out) however in humans it has evolved so that instead of our entire lower jaw sticking out, only our nose protrudes.  if you see the bones of earlier human species, there was more prognathism (and no chin!) until recently in evolutionary history.  also, an interesting fact is that neandertals had huge noses because they lived in cold environments and the larger nasal passages allowed the air more space to warm up before entering the lungs.  haha, I just finished an anthropology class, so...

Answer 7

The flat nose is usually (but not exclusively) to facilitate a keen sense of smell. The prominent nose would have had to of been beneficial to our species. The Proboscis Monkey is another example of a primate with an unusually large nose, the function is unknown.

Neanderthals had bulbous noses in order to efficiently warm air before reaching the lungs, which would aid to keep the body warm. As primitive humans traveled to cooler climates, perhaps the nose took on a form to function as an air warmer, helping them retain heat and survive in new, cooler climates?

Answer 8

so you can smell better your own f**t

Answer 9

Caucasians have the biggest nose of all. People who live in cold weather tend to have bigger noses, because of the need to moisturize and warm up the air before it enters our lungs. American Indians came from Asia. They developed bigger noses because of the cold and dry climate in North America.

Answer 10

For survival. At one time humans actually had a great sense of smell and helped them to survive to this day.  

Answer 11

Evolution