Aquarboreal Ape Theory (Hominoid Evolution)

Marc Verhaegen

Hominids (chimps, humans & gorillas) & pongids (orangs) split probably ~15
Ma. Miocene great ape fossils are found in coastal & swamp forests (eg,
Heliopith ~17 Ma, Griphopith 16-14, Oreopith ~8, Lufengpith ~12, Dryopith
~10 Ma). A vertical climbing+wading lifestyle in such flooded forests
explains how they (starting from a more monkey-like body build: narrow
thorax, above-branch locomotion.) lost the tail (unexpected in arboreal
creatures), became much larger (idem) & late (possibly in parallel)
developed truncal erectness (orthogrady) - features of apes, absent in most
Old World monkeys (except, to a limited extent, in Nasalis: this
mangrove-dweller is the largest colobine monkey, the only one with a short
tail, it regularly wades on 2 legs between mangrove trees, is a good
swimmer, it sometimes climbs arms overhead). The early apes were often
thick-enameled & possibly used tools, IOW, they were durophagous
frugi-omnivores: the diet included hard-shelled fruits, nuts, mangrove
oysters etc. Pongids spread East along the Indian Ocean coasts. Hominids
spread W & S along the Med.& Red Seas. The African hominids that later went
inland along rivers & lakes became the australopithecines & the African apes
(chimps & gorillas). M.Verhaegen, P-F.Puech & S.Munro 2002 "Aquarboreal
ancestors?" Trends in Ecology & Evolution 17:212-7.
 

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Amphibious Ancestors Theory (Homo Evolution)

Alister Hardy ("Was Man more aquatic in the past?" NS 1960) described how a
littoral lifestyle (wading, beach-combing, swimming, collecting coconuts,
shellfish, turtles & turtle eggs, bird eggs, crabs, seaweeds...) explains
many human traits (absent in Pan) a lot better than dry savanna scenarios
do: very large brain (reduced olfactory bulb though), greater breathing
control & greater diving skills, small mouth & masticatory reduction
(myosine MYH16), well-developed vocality, extreme handiness & tool use,
reduction of climbing skills, reduction of fur, more SC fat, very long legs,
more linear body build, reduction of olfactory sense, late puberty, high
needs of iodine, sodium & poly-unsaturated fatty acids etc. Hardy was wrong
in thinking his seaside phase happened ~10 Ma. More likely it happened
during the Ice Ages: early Pleistocene Homo fossils or tools have been found
in Algeria, Iran, Kenya, Georgia, Java, always near shellfish & seas & large
bodies of water. When sea levels dropped, H.ergaster followed the
Mediterranean (pre-antecessor-neandertals) & Indian Ocean coasts (erectus).
Pleistocene coasts during the glacial periods were some 120 m below the
present sea level, so many fossil & archeological finds show the inland Homo
populations that entered the continents along the rivers & wetlands. In
spite of this, Homo remains (but not australopithecine) have frequently been
found amid shells, corals, barnacles etc., throughout the Pleistocene, in
coasts all over the Old World (eg, Mojokerto, Terra Amata, Table Bay,
Eritrea), even on islands that could only be reached by sea (Flores 0.8 Ma).