The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis: Most Credible Theory of Human Evolution

Összefoglaló

Why are we the only members of the ape family who are hairless, walk upright, shed tears and communicate by a verbal language? Why are human babies plump, when the infants of other apes are skinny? Why is our sexual behaviour different? In the first full discussion of a theory propounded by the late Sir Alister Hardy, Elaine Morgan points to the dramatic similarities between ourselves and the aquatic mammals - whales, dolphins, seals, sea otters - and argues that the only theory of evolution which explains these satisfactorily is that we, alone among the primates, have returned to life on land after a period of adaptation to an aquatic environment. We were once aquatic apes.