Aquatic Ape Theory Essay

The Aquatic Ape theory surfaced in the 1930s when biologist Alister Hardy began to pay attention to how similar humans are to aquatic mammals. While the theory is believed by a large group of people, it also received a great amount of criticism. When researching arguments from both sides of the hypothesis, I came to the conclusion that there are multiple valid points to the concept, but I am neutral to it because of the arguments from the opposing side According to Brian Dunning’s podcast, humans are similar to aquatic mammals for the fact that we do not have fur like other mammals. Great apes have fur, but humans have fat that would be beneficial in water similarly to dolphins and whales. Humans are bipedal unlike the other creatures in the

The opposing side of the argument connects many of the suggestions made and compares it to other mammals. For example, great apes also have fat just like humans. Furthermore, other mammals use two legs such as kangaroos. In regards to the observation about breathing, dogs have the ability too control their breath. Additionally, humans use their breath for multiple services. Although there are some similarities between aquatic mammals and humans, that does not mean the theory is accurate. It essentially only points put the differences humans have between great apes and the similarities between aquatic apes. When considering both sides of the arguments, many questions begin to occur because of how intricate each side of the argument is. For the supporters of the aquatic ape theory, one question for them would be: Much of the suggestions that the theory is true is based off the similarities that humans have to aquatic mammals, but there is no striking concept that suggests that these could just be mere qualities that humans share with aquatic mammals. What piece of evidence is there that humans may have a more aquatic past that is not just based off the qualities of humans and aquatic