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NobblyNobody t1_j2dva92 wrote

Reply to comment by Ansuz07 in Eli5 getting ‘goosebumps’ on skin by Conscious_Internal17

but what's the actual mechanism?

something in the follicles?, muscular, or fluid moving around? why does the skin feel tighter? where does whatever the bumps are made of go afterwards, why didn't that mechanism go when we lost the hair - does it serve another purpose most of the time?

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Ansuz07 t1_j2dvj9o wrote

There are small muscles attached to each hair follicle. When those muscles contract, the skin tightens up and the hair stands on end. When they relax, the bump goes away.

As for why they are still there, evolution doesn't have a goal - it rewards what works. There was never a benefit in the reaction going away, so it never did.

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NobblyNobody t1_j2dwwh3 wrote

kinda mind blowing there is a tiny muscular infrastructure there still, like almost everywhere, just doing nothing most of the time.

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