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What is the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis?

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What is the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis?

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The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis, sometimes referred to as the Aquatic Ape Theory or AAT, is a questionable theory from paleoanthropology that enjoyed popularity in the 80s and early 90s. The basic idea is that human evolution was heavily influenced by the presence of bodies of water, and many of our signature characteristics and differences from other primates, such as hairlessness and bipedalism, can be explained by reference to this aquatic habitat. The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis’ most vocal proponent is Elaine Morgan, a television playwright and feminist writer. Although the theory was ultimately dismissed by the paleoanthropological community, being aware of it and the reasons for why it was refuted can help us learn more about the nature of the evolutionary process. The first argument for the Aquatic Ape idea comes from hairlessness. Getting rid of our thick primate hair makes it easier to swim and faster to dry off when exiting a body of water. The next argument comes from bipedalism. It

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The Aquatic Ape Theory hypothesizes that humans went through an aquatic or semi-aquatic stage in our evolution, generally said to have occurred during the transition from the last common ancestor we shared with apes (LCA) to hominids (Marc Verhaegen claims it continued on through virtually the entire span of human evolution). It claims that certain features are seen in human anatomy and physiology which are only seen in humans and aquatic animals and that these constitute proof that our ape ancestors went through an aquatic phase in their transition from ape to hominid. Using the principle of convergent evolution, it says that life in an aquatic environment explains these features, and that a transition from ape to hominid in a non-aquatic environment cannot. Read more, here: Aquatic Ape Hypothesis?

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