Don't miss WHAT Talk #20

There are many differences between humans and chimpanzees, including these...

We are bipedal.

We have an adult brain 3x bigger than theirs.

We have a relatively denuded body hair pattern.

Our infants are born with 5x as much subcutaneous fat.

We have a descended larynx.

We have fine voluntary breath control.

etc.

The simplest, most parsimonious, explanation for all these traits and many more is that our ancestors inhabited waterside habitats for most of their evolutionary history since the split with the chimpanzee. 

Waterside Hypotheses of Human Evolution do not propose mermaids or the man from Atlantis, they simply suggest that the lineage leading to Homo sapiens was exposed to greater selection from wading, swimming and diving than the ancestors of chimpanzees and gorillas.

For about three generations, students of biological anthropology and human evolution have not really been taught a fair account of Alister Hardy's so-called "aquatic ape theory", far better labelled, in the plural, "waterside hypotheses of human evolution".

The plan is to start to bridge that gap right here with a series of anatomy talks and tutorials that are not hesitant, or embarrassed, about mentioning the dreaded "aquatic" factor.