Re: escaping preds in H2O
H. M. Hubey (hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu)
27 Sep 1995 00:27:35 -0400
Alex Duncan <aduncan@mail.utexas.edu> writes:
>Why not just use the equipment you were given as a result of your
>generalized primate ancestry, and climb a tree?
If there were trees they would have climbed them. And if they did
they might have never become bipedal since they might have become
stuck at the monkey level.
>There's a problem w/ the idea that there's a premium on long legs: for
>at least 2 Myr hominids had hindlimbs that were about the same length
>relative to body size as is the case in modern chimps.
Then they'd have no advantages in running unless the general
flexing of the legs was like modern humans instead of being
half-half like monkeys. It's not as bad as being almost lame
but then it's hard to see how it would have been easier for
them to survive on the plains than in water unless they
burrowed. They couldn't have stood a chance against even
predators like hyenas or wild dogs so this is as bad as crocodiles
in water. Nay even worse, since probably 99.99% of the coastline
of AFrica or any other place is free of crocs and I don't know
of any reason why they should have been infested a long time ago.
--
Regards, Mark
http://www.smns.montclair.edu/~hubey
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