Evolution question - fire and hair loss?

burnt hair is not the issue. What is the issue is the ability of the species to provide a source of heat without having to rely on fur. Fire helped with this, as did the development of clothing. The rift valley in Africa also could have played a part, this is where our species is thought to have finally become distinct from our ape cousins. Our ancestors were forced to come out of the trees and enter the more barren lands in search of food. The heat generate here, as well as the exhaustion caused by running in a heavy fur coat could have likely made it more advantageous for our bodies not to produce fur. Our systems would have also wanted to conserve that energy for building leg and abdominal muscles that allow for faster travel on foot. Thus, the deactivated fur genes would have been ped on... and eventually possibly lost, at least in part.