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From: kja@cbnewsd.att.com (krista.j.anderson)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Adaption to aquatic life (was: Questions about sex)
Summary: neoteny?
Message-ID: <1990Aug7.182846.12834@cbnewsd.att.com>
Date: 7 Aug 90 18:28:46 GMT
References: <37900@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <2950@aecom.yu.edu> <2829@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
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In article <2829@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU>, damian@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU (Damian Conway) writes:
> In <1990Aug6.162409.24034@ioe.lon.ac.uk> teexmmo@ioe.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore) writes:
> 
> >(Morgan uses the elephant as an example of an animal partially adapted
> >to aquatic life - rudimentary fur, some evidence for face to face
> >copulation, webbing of digits, good swimming ability, and a built in
> >snorkel).
> 
> Seems to me that homo sapiens fits in the same category, sharing all but
> one of those characteristics. Any info on that?

There's a fairly recent (1980s?) theory that humans are neotenous.
That is, we are not fully developed in the womb at birth.  We are
fetal apes.  What this does is to allow the head to grow quite large
in proportion to the body.  Then the bones of the arms and legs lengthen
after birth.  Evidence that humans are a product of neoteny:

 1. relatively hairless
 2. skull not yet closed at birth
 3. larger head per body size compared to other primates
 4. relatively helpless at birth
 5. slow physical development
 6. little teeth, chins and mouths compared to other apes
 7. late sexual maturity

Anyway, I have wondered about elephants, whether they are neotenous
members of the mammoth/mastodon line.

One thing that some molecular evolutionists liked about the theory was
that it did a good job of explaining how a drastic phenotypic change
could result from a small number of genetic changes, such as less than
1% between chimpanzees and humans.

The book I read was called _The Monkey Puzzle_, 1985.  I can't remember
the names of the authors.
-- 
Krista A.
HONOR Our Neighbors' Origins and Rights!