Video: Swimming Apes Caught on Tape | Science/AAAS | News
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In a report this week in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology,
researchers offer an evolutionary explanation:
When an early ancestor of modern apes took to the trees, they
say, innate swimming ability likely lost its advantage, and
the trait disappeared. The fact that our muscles and brains
adapted to graceful swinging movements in the air and upright
walking on the ground might account for the lengthwise reaching
and pulling movements that define Cooper (chimp) and Suryia's (orangutan)aquatic style.
The paper is freely available:
Brief communication: Swimming and diving behavior in apes (Pan troglodytes and Pongo pygmaeus): First documented report - Bender - 2013 - American Journal of Physical Anthropology - Wiley Online Library
Brief communication: Swimming and diving behavior in apes (Pan
troglodytes and Pongo pygmaeus): First documented report
Renato Bender, Nicole Bender
Article first published online: 30 JUL 2013
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22338
ABSTRACT
Extant hominoids, including humans, are well known for their
inability to swim instinctively. We report swimming and diving
in two captive apes using visual observation and video
recording. One common chimpanzee and one orangutan swam
repeatedly at the water surface over a distance of 2–6 m; both individuals
submerged repeatedly. We show that apes are able
to overcome their negative buoyancy by deliberate
swimming, using movements which deviate from the doggy-paddle
pattern observed in other primates. We suggest that apes' poor swimming ability is due to behavioral, anatomical, and
neuromotor changes related to an adaptation to arboreal life
in their early phylogeny. This strong adaptive focus on arboreal
life led to decreased opportunities to interact with water
bodies and consequently to a reduction of selective pressure
to maintain innate swimming behavior. As the doggy paddle is associated with
quadrupedal walking, a deviation from
terrestrial locomotion might have interfered with the
fixed rhythmic action patterns responsible for innate
swimming.
...
In a report this week in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology,
researchers offer an evolutionary explanation:
When an early ancestor of modern apes took to the trees, they
say, innate swimming ability likely lost its advantage, and
the trait disappeared. The fact that our muscles and brains
adapted to graceful swinging movements in the air and upright
walking on the ground might account for the lengthwise reaching
and pulling movements that define Cooper (chimp) and Suryia's (orangutan)aquatic style.
The paper is freely available:
Brief communication: Swimming and diving behavior in apes (Pan troglodytes and Pongo pygmaeus): First documented report - Bender - 2013 - American Journal of Physical Anthropology - Wiley Online Library
Brief communication: Swimming and diving behavior in apes (Pan
troglodytes and Pongo pygmaeus): First documented report
Renato Bender, Nicole Bender
Article first published online: 30 JUL 2013
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22338
ABSTRACT
Extant hominoids, including humans, are well known for their
inability to swim instinctively. We report swimming and diving
in two captive apes using visual observation and video
recording. One common chimpanzee and one orangutan swam
repeatedly at the water surface over a distance of 2–6 m; both individuals
submerged repeatedly. We show that apes are able
to overcome their negative buoyancy by deliberate
swimming, using movements which deviate from the doggy-paddle
pattern observed in other primates. We suggest that apes' poor swimming ability is due to behavioral, anatomical, and
neuromotor changes related to an adaptation to arboreal life
in their early phylogeny. This strong adaptive focus on arboreal
life led to decreased opportunities to interact with water
bodies and consequently to a reduction of selective pressure
to maintain innate swimming behavior. As the doggy paddle is associated with
quadrupedal walking, a deviation from
terrestrial locomotion might have interfered with the
fixed rhythmic action patterns responsible for innate
swimming.