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Re: JDM on Negus.
Elaine Morgan (Elaine@desco.demon.co.uk)
Fri, 22 Sep 1995 15:11:17 GMT
In article: <hubey.811373521@pegasus.montclair.edu>
hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu (H. M. Hubey) writes:
>
> It seems that one can easily claim this has
> to do with the aquatic life style.
>
> If the mouth keeps getting water all the time, then the
> larynx in contact with water would have had a bigger
> problem resonating and producing sounds.
>
> Also I think that an aquatic mammal needs to take in a large volume of
air quickly before diving or when briefly surfacing. It is much easier to
do this through the mouth than the nose, and the descended larynx makes
mouth breathing much easier. There must be some reason, I would have
thought, why some aquatic mammals but no non-human terrestrial ones, have
evolved this arrangement.
>
> Elaine
>
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