Elaine Morgan - The way it was, or wishful thinking?

[mintogrubb]

Back in the good ol' days , when I was young, a woman called Elaine Morgan wrote a book challenging the scientific establishment of the day. She suggested that rather than being driven by the male's hunting behaviour, it was an existence on the sea shore that shaped our anatomy and behaviour as humans, and that female needs and drives had as much

Comments

[ovariancyst]

And don't forget the Elephants. They lost their hair too, and they even have their own natural snorkel.

[bertro]

Otters, on the other hand, are still furry. They have no business being in the water.

[ovariancyst]

And then there's that fuckin' platypus...it's just disrespecting everyone.

[mintogrubb]

But otters are smaller, so they kept their fur where hippos and whales did not.

never mind, its the crocs and the sharks that have shot this one down...

[bertro]

But as puf_almighty said at the top, something shaped like a human or a hippo would gain little in the way of hydrodynamics by losing fur. Otters are great swimmers, yet they put up with their fur.

[mintogrubb]

I think that she was postulating fat as a form of insulation , not as something to reduce drag.

a small critter like an otter or platypus can have a thick furry pelt and it does not have such a weight penalty. the polar bear lives in sub zero temperatures , but a critter on the african savannah ( Elaine tells us), well, it needs to keep warm in the water, but not overheat in the sun so its fat and sweat glands for us, as an ideal compromise.

Even so, I did not buy her ideas on the female hymen - I mean, if you needed one that badly that you evolved it, it makes no sense to lose it while you relatively young.

The female menopause, OTOH, makes perfect sense. Sadly, the main thrust of her argument has been shot down, but that is life, and that is why I post here...

[hortensio]

Insulation was part of it, but current proponents point to fat as important primarily because, supposedly, it makes you more buoyant.