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Asked by The Almighty Ginger Overlord to Francesca, Laura, Matthew, Andrew, Rebecca on 7 Nov 2014.
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Matthew Camilleri answered on 7 Nov 2014:
My personal opinion is that this theory does not hold any water. If humans developed from apes because they had to adapt to water then we would be seeing a number of adaptations that would be similar to aquatic organisms, but then again, who knows, maybe this is true and this was how mermaids came into existence.
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Laura Schofield answered on 9 Nov 2014:
Haha nice pun there from Matthew! I’m not entirely convinced by the Aquatic Ape hypothesis to be honest. I agree with Matthew that we would see more species of mammals that evolved even further and were inhabiting the oceans. Having said that, I’m not an expert in the field so could be entirely wrong!
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Andrew McKinley answered on 10 Nov 2014:
Evolution is often misunderstood! I read somewhere (around 10 years ago!) that future generations will “evolve longer thumbs due to increased use of mobile devices”. This isn’t really how evolution works. We would only “evolve” longer thumbs if we have an advantage by doing so – either if ‘long thumbed’ people are more attractive to a mate(!), or if ‘long thumbs’ meant that we could escape predators more easily – that way people with ‘long thumbs’ would survive and the rest would die out!
As such, I don’t really think we could ascend from ‘aquatic apes’; it is far more likely that we come from ‘normal’ primates.
Comments
The Almighty Ginger Overlord commented on :
Thanks for your opinions, they were really helpful. 🙂
The Almighty Ginger Overlord commented on :
Humans actually do show adaptations that only humans have. For example: webbing between fingers-only humans have this trait, land based Arthropods do not have this trait. Webbing between fingers helps propel amphibians and aquatic organisms through water.
Human babies also attempt to stay afloat when dropped in water, whereas newborn apes will not attempt to swim, and will drown.
Humans do not have hair growth everywhere, compared to Arthropods who have little uncovered skin.
Humans also sweat salt, which is vital to stay alive, while apes conserve salt. Salt is abundant in the sea, so we would not need to conserve it. Ginger out.
Matthew commented on :
The almighty Ginger Overlord, good observations, but that does not necessarily mean that we had to evolve from water surrounded areas.
Webbing between fingers could have evolved cos we do not use our feet to grab things with, like other apes while even if babies can survive in water this is only due to the fact that they would have been in ‘water’ as embryos.
With regards to sweat and hair it is all about temperature control.
The Almighty Ginger Overlord commented on :
Thanks, I appreciate the constructive criticism. 🙂
The destroyer king of curry commented on :
I think that this is an interesting topic. My opinion is it could be true and it’s up to u to prove it.
Andrew commented on :
@The King of Curry: I would say that it is up to *all of us* to prove it – science belongs to everyone, and we all need to find evidence to prove our opinions. The difficulty is that no one person can investigate everything – which is why the quest to understand our world is one we all share in. This might be something you would like to research! Remember that a “theory” in science is the best fit to the available data. If we find data that either disproves the existing theory, or shows overwhelming support for another theory, the scientific model requires that we accept the new evidence.
That’s what makes science brilliant – the willingness to support new ideas and reject outdated and flawed ideas in support of understanding our world better!
Matthew commented on :
@the destroyer king of curry: Scientists try to solve these problems all the time, it is very important that we know how we developed, from what we evolved, as this could be a highly valuable piece of information when it comes to fighting diseases.
Is it up to us to to prove it? I guess not, there are a number of other scientists who are more adapted to proving or disproving this theory 🙂