Elaine Morgan has an incredible TED talk up that gently explains the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis.
In a nutshell, the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis (or AAH) puts forth the idea that humans evolved from apes not by climbing down out of the trees and heading across the savannah, but rather by leaping from a tree into a nice cool swimming hole.
It is our ancient ancestors relationship to water that’s got scientists all up in a tizzy. And when the scientists start going “Caw! Caw!” you know there is something interesting going on.
All of human evolutionary theory holds tight to the “New erect ape strides forth across the savannah” theory. Which was disproved in the 1990′s by paleontologists who studied early hominid fossils and cross-referenced them with fossilized pollen. Turns out, our ancient homies didn’t have any fossilized savannah pollen on or in them. So the savannah hypothesis was disproven.
To protect the newly created “knowledge vacuum”, most scientists did what any normal scientist would do, and that is completely ignore the vacuum and proceed as if nothing had happened.
Enter Elaine Morgan, who for years has been suggesting that it’s far more likely that our ape-like ancestors hung out around rivers, eating lots of fish, which is good for the brain. The constant wading around in water lead to upright, bi-pedal walking, and eventually the loss of our body hair.
The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis also explains why we humans can control our breath, why we can swim as newborns, and why we have external layers of fat.
Ms. Morgan also helpfully points out that every mammal who has evolved to lose its body hair (like the elephant, hippo, and dolphin) has had an aquatic ancestor.
Does that include humans? Makes sense to me. I love being in the water in a way that feels totally primordial.
Could World Peace be achieved with the creation of more public swimming pools and cleaner beaches? Could we just surf more and have World Peace? Is that it?
Elaine Morgan, for your steadfast refusal to cave in the face of constant adversity, SuperForest salutes you! You go, girl!
For further reading, here’s the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis wiki.
Saw it first on boingboing. Thanks boingboing!
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