Re: AAH: humans long-distance runners?
Phillip Bigelow (n8010095@henson.cc.wwu.edu)
Wed, 14 Dec 1994 19:47:28 GMT
Pat Dooley <patdooley@delphi.com> writes:
>
>Every savannah animal except for some very high mass
>animals has a fur coat to keep them insulated.
>
>
>Pat Dooley
Your side has no modern-day anologue to an aquatic ape. Name a _mammal_ the
size of A. afarensis (about four feet tall and slight of build) or smaller
that is semi-aquatic and is _hairless_. Just one modern-day example will
do. You won't be able to, because small endotherms need fur to keep warm.
Their surface area/mass ratio is too high. A small aquatic ape is
phyiologically impossible. Water saps body core heat even faster than air
does. I provided a list of scientific papers that discuss endothermy in
small mammals. If those papers are unavailable, then read the chapter in
Robert Bakker's book _The Dinosaur Heresies_ on metabolism and size (chapter
16).
I can't believe this physiological fact hasn't been
accepted yet.
<pb>
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