Why aquatic ape theory is false

This combination of characteristics, which do not exist in any other terrestrial mammal, would have gradually arisen over several million years. By the time the Neanderthals appeared some , to , years ago, their semi-aquatic lifestyle—swimming, diving, and perhaps hunting for food on land and in the water—may have been firmly part of day-to-day life. In my opinion, the accumulated fossil, anatomical, and physiological evidence about early hominin evolution points to our human ancestors learning to survive as semi-aquatic creatures in a changing East African environment.

After transitioning to bipedalism, ancient hominins had both forelimbs free from aiding in walking, which may have allowed for increasing manual dexterity and skills. Perhaps a marine diet with lipoproteins that are essential for brain development fueled the unique intellectual advances and ecological dominance of Homo sapiens. Peter Rhys-Evans works in private practice as an otolaryngologist in London at several hospitals including the Harley Street Clinic.

He is the founder and chairman of Oracle Cancer Trust, the largest head and neck cancer charity in the UK. More importantly, its claim to parsimony is false. The numerous "explanations" for individual anatomical traits that it generates constitute premises that are not better founded than competing terrestrial "explanations". The unifying theme of aquatic adaptation is considerably less parsimonious than the assumption that our lineage has always been terrestrial.

Finally, the mosaic pattern of hominid evolution demonstrated by the fossil record will not support this or any single cause theory. Most of these criticisms have been previously voiced in one form or another, yet umbrella hypotheses ranging from mainstream science to the paranormal maintain their popularity among students, general audiences, and scholars in neighboring disciplines.

South African sites tended to be drier but were still located near streams. The researchers say foraging in these environments may have led to habitual upright walking. Today, chimpanzees and gorillas occasionally venture into shallow bodies of water, and when they do, they wade on two legs.

It makes sense. Wading bipedally allows the apes to keep their heads above water. As our earliest ancestors spent longer and longer periods of time wading upright, it became beneficial to evolve specialized anatomy for two-legged walking.

Wrangham and his colleagues acknowledge that their case rests on circumstantial evidence. And the evidence has alternative explanations.