Re: Aquatic elephants. Was re:Tears

H. M. Hubey (hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu)
19 Oct 1995 22:39:57 -0400

Alex Duncan <aduncan@mail.utexas.edu> writes:

>I think the strongest argument that elephants have aquatic marine
>ancestors is that they share so many features with humans, and humans had
>aquatic ancestors. Therefore, since humans share so many features with
>elephants, we must have had aquatic ancestors.

Let's drop the ancestor bit for a second.

Let's also drop the binary variable business for the moment.

Among presently non-aquatic animals (i.e. birds and terrestrials)
some animals have more of an affinity for water than others.

On a scale of 0 to 100 hundred [100 =most affinity for water]
assign numbers to these animals

elephants
rhinos
hippos
lions
humans
gorillas
baboons
pigs
sea otters
polar bears
dogs
foxes
penguins
hyenas
sheep
goats
zebras
cows
...

Don't be bashful. Anyone can play this game. it's not only
intended for the original sarcasm poster :-)..

OK. Let's see the numbers. Then we can continue the discussion.

-- 





				Regards, Mark

				http://www.smns.montclair.edu/~hubey