Re: chimps on the savanna? Nooooo.....

Alex Duncan (aduncan@mail.utexas.edu)
23 Oct 1995 12:30:06 GMT

In article <hubey.814392735@pegasus.montclair.edu> H. M. Hubey,
hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu writes:

>>abundantly clear that I could slap you in the face with a fully
>>non-aquatic A. afarensis, and you'd still find some way to claim that
>
>What is abundantly clear to me is that you still keep saying
>things which don't make sense. How, pray tell, will you find
>a fully non-aquatic A. afarensis? All you have are some fossils.

My point was essentially that you are so attached to an unsupportable
idea that even in the face of clear evidence to the contrary you would
continue your support. I suspect that if we actually built a time
machine, and were able to go back and observe A. afarensis in the wild
for 6 months, and during those 6 months saw them use water only for
drinking, you would claim that they must enter their aquatic phase during
the 6 months we didn't see.

The A. afarensis fossils that are available show no evidence whatsoever
of adaptation to aquatic environments.

Alex Duncan
Dept. of Anthropology
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1086
512-471-4206
aduncan@mail.utexas.edu