🚀 go-pugleaf

Hanna Tuomisto <hantuo@utu.fi> writes:

>Human evolution is a complex process that includes the development of
>also other weird characteristics than the big brain, for instance upward
>gait and nakedness. To me it seems that by far the most coherent
>explanation is that during the time their brain started to evolve larger,
>our ancestors were living at the seashore. It is rather typical for sea
>mammals that the size of their brains is larger in relation to body size
>than with terrestrial mammals of the same weight. I doubt that dolphins
>could solve differentials, but they are the only animals that have as big
>brains as we do, and they are also known to be rather smart.
>There are at least two reasons why a mammal that turns (partly) aquatic
>would develop a large brain. First, neoteny is a typical characteristic
>of aquatic mammals, and this results kind of automatically in larger
>brains, because the foetus always has relatively larger brains than the
>adult. Second, seafood is rich in some fatty substances that are
>....
>primates. The evidence for this hypothesis is summarized in two books by
>E. Morgan: The Aquatic Ape (1982 or thereabouts) and The Scars of
>Evolution (1990).
>I have been wondering why this theory is so seldom mentioned in
>speculations about our evolution. If any of the experts who have been
>contributing to this discussion could give me an answer, I would be very
>pleased indeed.

>Hanna Tuomisto
>hantuo@utu.fi

I'm a fan of an aquatic phase in hominid evolution (see THE RIVER THAT
FLOWS UPHILL) but I'd place it rather early, between 6 and 4 Mya; there
was a meeting in 1990 published under the title THE AQUATIC APE: FACT OR
FICTION in 1992, editor Machteld Roede, from one of the smaller European
publishers. 

The more noticeable aspects of brain enlargement and reorganization (c.f.,
Dean Falk's BRAINDANCE, 1992) begin only about 2.5-2.0 mya.  Prime refs
for social intelligence is the Byrne and Whitten MACHIEVALLIAN
INTELLIGENCE (Oxford 1988) and Nick Humphrey's books, e.g., A HISTORY OF
THE MIND (1992), with Frans de Waal's books CHIMPANZEE POLITICS (1982) and
PEACEMAKING AMONG PRIMATES (1989) absolutely essential.
    William H. Calvin   WCalvin@U.Washington.edu