From Francesca Mansfield
I was delighted to see that the aquatic ape theory got a small mention in the profile box of Elaine Morgan’s article on the similarities between orang-utans and humans (7 March, p 26). The theory is considered by some to be a non-starter, but if we wait for palaeontologists to procure the fossil evidence of aquatic evolution along ancient, long-lost coastlines, we’ll be waiting longer than Darwin had to wait for the fossil and DNA evidence to support his theories.
There is biological evidence: the “scars of evolution” as Morgan so aptly entitled one of her books. Our most singular human features, such as hairlessness, bipedalism, language, menopause, tear glands, breath control, obesity and endocrine glands, are features shared only by aquatic mammals or mammals with some kind of aquatic history.
Finally, perhaps we should consider that the aquatic ape theory may be relevant to more than just our past. If global warming continues to turn most of our habitable zones into desert, we may have no other recourse but to turn, once more, to the sea to survive.
Volos, Greece
