Re: Becoming altricial/bi
Paul Crowley (Paul@crowleyp.demon.co.uk)
Sun, 08 Oct 95 15:05:21 GMT
In article <1995Oct6.125112.9955@arl.mil>
tkelley@hel4.brl.mil "Troy Kelley" writes:
> j#d#.moore@canrem.com writes:
> >JM>> You mention the "enigma" of "swimming human infants". This is a
> >JM>> hoary chestnut indeed which has been used for quite some time by
> >JM>> many AATers.
>
> If the article is like you say, I will have to rethink some of this AAT
> business.
"Swimming infants" might have been convenient, or they might not.
(I'll have to use my time machine to go back 4-5 Myr to ask the
mothers - I suspect the answer would be a definite "No".) Its
implications for the AAT case are insignificant.
The first bipedal infants spent most of their time in the same way
as modern h.s. infants spend theirs - in a safe place on their backs
- in a crib of straw in the rocks. Once they started to crawl, an
inability to swim would have been a real advantage to the mother.
They would have stayed put on the rock where they had been placed.
Paul.
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