Editing Aquatic ape hypothesis (section)

==The Hardy/Morgan hypothesis==
Hardy's hypothesis as outlined in ''[[New Scientist]]'' was:

{{quote|My thesis is that a branch of this primitive [[ape]]-stock was forced by competition from life in the trees to feed on the sea-shores and to hunt for food, [[shell fish]], [[sea urchin|sea-urchins]] etc., in the shallow waters off the coast. I suppose that they were forced into the water just as we have seen happen in so many other groups of terrestrial animals. I am imagining this happening in the warmer parts of the world, in the tropical seas where Man could stand being in the water for relatively long periods, that is, several hours at a stretch.<ref name="Hardy 1960"/>}}

Hardy argued a number of features of modern humans are characteristic of aquatic adaptations. He pointed to humans' lack of body hair as being analogous to the same lack seen in [[whale]]s and [[hippopotamus]]es,{{sfn|Morgan|1990|pp=69-79}}{{Sfn|Langdon|1997|pp=483}} and noted the layer of [[subcutaneous fat]] humans have that Hardy believed other apes lacked, although it has been shown that captive apes with ample access to food have levels of subcutaneous fat similar to humans.{{sfn|Langdon|1997|pp=487}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mYI3AAAAIAAJ | vauthors = Wood FJ |title=Man's Place among the Mammals|access-date=4 February 2017 |year=1929 |publisher=Longmans, Green & co.|page=309}}</ref> Additional features cited by Hardy include the location of the [[trachea]] in the [[throat]] rather than the nasal cavity, the human propensity for front-facing [[human reproduction#Copulation|copulation]], [[tears]] and [[eccrine sweating]], though these claimed pieces of evidence have alternative evolutionary adaptationist explanations that do not invoke an aquatic context.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rnGLp3QMiJYC|title=From Mating to Mentality: Evaluating Evolutionary Psychology| vauthors = Sterelny K, Fitness J |date=2004-03-01|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-1-135-43212-6 |pages=250}}</ref> 

The [[diving reflex]] is sometimes cited as evidence. This is exhibited strongly in [[aquatic mammal]]s, such as [[Pinniped|seal]]s, [[otter]]s and [[dolphin]]s. It also exists as a lesser response in other animals, including human babies up to 6 months old (see [[infant swimming]]). However adult humans generally exhibit a mild response.

Hardy additionally posited that [[bipedalism]] evolved first as an aid to [[wikt:wade|wading]] before becoming the usual means of human locomotion,{{sfn|Hardy|1960|p=645}}{{sfn|Langdon|1997|pp=481}} and [[Primate#Tool use and manufacture|tool use]] evolved out of the use of rocks to crack open [[shellfish]].{{sfn|Hardy|1960|p=645}}{{sfn|Langdon|1997|pp=487}} These last arguments were cited by later proponents of AAH as an inspiration for their [[#Related academic and independent research|research programs]].

Morgan summed up her take on the hypothesis in 2011:

{{quote|Waterside hypotheses of human evolution assert that selection from wading, swimming and diving and procurement of food from aquatic habitats have significantly affected the evolution of the lineage leading to ''Homo sapiens'' as distinct from that leading to ''[[Pan (genus)|Pan]]''.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://ebooks.benthamscience.com/book/9781608052448/chapter/51560/ | vauthors = Kuliukas AV, Morgan E |year=2011|title=Aquatic Scenarios in the Thinking on Human Evolution: What are they and How do they Compare?|pages=106–119| publisher = Bentham Science Publishers |access-date=4 February 2017|isbn=978-1-60805-244-8 }}</ref>}}