Re: EVOLUTION: The Aquatic Ape
Fri, 17 Jan 1997 12:33:45 -0500 (EST) (John K Clark) writes:

>On Mon 13 Jan 1997 Guru George <> Wrote:

>>Everyone should read about the Aquatic Ape hypothesis, as
>>championed by Elaine Morgan [...] and was encouraged to
>>that no less a mind that Daniel C. Dennett thinks it's
>>reasonable too.

>Dennett says "I for one would love to see it vindicated. That does not make
>it true, of course". Evolution is more like History than Mathematics,
>and there are many very reasonable things in History that never happened.

>The diving reflex of infants, and the subcutaneous layer of fat humans have
>that is similar to that found in some aquatic animals is the best evidence
>for the Aquatic Ape Theory, but I don't think that's enough to prove it and
>have a lot of problems with the other "evidence".

I agree that the other evidence of aquatic existence (bipedalism) is
unconvincing, and I don't find Ms. Morgan's timeline (the aquatic phase was
several million years ago in East Africa) convincing either. But the diving
reflex is pretty overwhelming evidence that humans needed to survive extended
periods in and under the water at some time in the past.