Cold

Well, here I sit, looking out at the snow. Love it or hate it, this kind of weather effects us all in some way. We've all heard the speculation about global warming, global cooling, etc., but did you ever stop to think about where we would be without the cold? Our early mammal ancestors probably didn't worry too much about cold, living in a world dominated by dinosaurs, but it was their own natural adaptations that proved to be the big winners when the BIG COLD dropped in for a visit. When the competition for food and space ended, after the great dying at the end of the Cretaceous, mammals with their insulating fur, warm blood, fatty milk food and internal placental suddenly were in the evolutionary cat-bird seat. Off to the races they went, diversifying and spreading, moving into new niches and taking new roles. Even in the warmer places mammals became dominant big animals. Among these were our ancestors, still furry and relatively small, but with dexterous hands and feet and sharp little forward-facing eyes. They too began to spread out and adapt, growing larger and learning to survive. Some ventured away from the warm lands of their origins and, as the cold descended upon them, changed in ways that would make us what we are today. While our close ancestors had lost most of their ancestral insulating fur, they kept their warm blood and developed ways to adapt that were no longer dependent on mere chance or mutation. When the first proto-human realized that animal skins that once kept the beast warm could do the same for him or her, everything changed. When the fur-wearer found fire could keep cold at bay- and cook the beast from which the fur came- everything changed again. In a sense, the need to stay warm has driven human evolution. The cold, it seems, is the father of us all.

So I sit here, spout hyperbole, and watch it snow. Something I couldn't do at all if it didn't get cold at least once in a while...