Did we evolve from aquatic apes? (Elaine Morgan)

[Reese Leysen]

[Sandmonkey92]

hmm interesting.
But if we did evolve from the water where did our 99% DNA match with apes come from?

[Reese Leysen]

Well there'd be a transition from apes to aquatic apes to humans of course.

[Lakatos]

What do you mean by apes? Because apes is quite a large category, which includes us humans too.

I believe the 99% figure you came up with is about our DNA's resemblance to the chimpanzees' DNA, which is indeed roughly 99%.
And this match actually points more to the idea that we humans and the other great apes(gorillas, chimpanzees, etc.), have evolved from a common ancestor. So no, you're grandfather was not a chimp or a some strange wet hairless(which by the way is complete bullcrap) fish-monkeys(there is just no other way to put this).

This entire aquatic ape theory is something that is just fun to take up, laugh at it, and then put it right back. It's just so damn inconsistent! I'd like to tell you guys why, it's just that I have to go to bed right now. But fear not, tomorrow I'll write a nice little reply showing you the major problems.

[kungfuanthrax - Alex]

lol yes

[Mvision]

What a lovely woman,
Great speech.
I especially like the bodyfat thing, that's something I didn't know.
Thanks for sharing!

EDIT: before you go off and tell your mom and friends that you are an aqua-ape,
read this first: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis
it's not like this is a proven theory! And it has many many counterarguments.

[Heleen]

what's wrong with UFO's and the Yeti??

wow, it's the first time I hear about this aquatic theorie,
and I must say it's pretty intruiging.

[Paladin]

I've heard this theory before. It is pretty intriguing.

[jeroen]

It all seems to fit well, cause she's a good talker. But don't forget nobody got the chance to say things that prove the humans aren't aquatic apes who evolved. I'm not saying it's not true what she says, but don't change your mind to fast without thinking of flaws in her theory

Like the hair thingy. Most animals without hair don't have problems with sunburn. If an ape would loose it's skin and run around with his head above the water; wouldn't his skin burn like hell? Certainly cause we come from Africa. 'Africa, in water, no hair, standing on 2 legs' these things are all very bad vor your shoulders. so the question is when did humans evolved into creatures that can get sunburned and why.

Also in water you don't have that much weight. It would be more logic that our legs would become weaker. But when we came out the water, we were one of the only animals that was able to stand on 2 legs. In the water your legs aren't lifting your body. So coming out of the water and keep walking would be like an astronaut that never used a hometrainer in space, and just comes to earth and tries to step. It wouldn't work and his legs would break.

And that were just some things that slipped my mind in 5 minutes.
Still i would love to hear more pro's or contra's.

[Bleranda]

That's very interessting, but there are a lot of things I dislike about it. For example she is reasoning her theory all the time, but ignores completely the well established theory, that our ancestors weren't from the sea. There is far more evidence for this, than for her theory.

I'm a biology student and I never happened to hear from this theory, but I must say, I'm specializing on molekulary biology, so maybe that's why.

But this isn't how science works, I'm not saying she is wrong, because I'm not an expert on that field, but she is presenting it, as if there wase perfectly fine and enough evidence. There is NO animal which can be the missing link between the monkeys who lived on the ground (after all we are genetically related to them) and the homo sapiens that we are now, _wich_seemed_to_live_in_the_water_.

And personally hope there will be more and more professional studies and information about this, because I find it very interesting.

[Oliver]

THAT is awesome.

Why have I not heard about this before!

[Ruari]

A brilliant theory, there's plenty of things to think about, not just the aquatic ape part. I had no idea that the reason other primates can't speak, is because most animals don't have conscious control of their breathing...

A brief search online came up with a few reasons against this theory.
-There's nothing in the fossil record to support this.
-Being hairless is only really useful for aquatic animals that swim long distances, quickly, or dive. For something like a human, it'd just mean it would lose it's body warmth too quickly in the water.
-Apparently there's a lot of waterborne parasites that our immune system hasn't evolved to respond to.

[Johan]

seems accurate o.0 - atlantis?