Adaptations To Climate
Despite the extreme cold climate in which they lived, early Yahgan wore little to no clothing until their contact with Europeans. They were able to survive the harsh climate because:
1) They kept warm by huddling around small fires when they could, including in their boats to stay warm. In fact, the name of "Tierra del Fuego" (land of fire) is a name given to the island cluster by passing European explorers who witnessed these fires burning.
2) They made use of rock formations to shelter themselves from the elements.
3) They covered themselves in animal grease.
4) Over time they had evolved significantly higher metabolisms than average humans, allowing them to generate more internal body heat.
5) Their natural resting position was a deep squatting position, which reduced their surface area and so helped to conserve heat.
Read more about this topic: Yaghan People
Famous quotes containing the word climate:
“Nobody is so constituted as to be able to live everywhere and anywhere; and he who has great duties to perform, which lay claim to all his strength, has, in this respect, a very limited choice. The influence of climate upon the bodily functions ... extends so far, that a blunder in the choice of locality and climate is able not only to alienate a man from his actual duty, but also to withhold it from him altogether, so that he never even comes face to face with it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)