The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis by Elaine Morgan

In response, Morgan wrote her book “The Descent of Woman” in 1972.

They argued that the females required the protection of the great male hunters, and in exchange, they became sexually receptive at all times and adapted attractive traits such as breasts and a swiveling walk. Their books presented males as the mighty hunters and females as dependent subordinates. But even more frustrating was the blatant sexism he, as well as other science such as Robert Ardrey and Konrad Lorenz, displayed.

For instance, she questioned the assumption that walking on two legs was faster than walking on four. Morgan thought Morris’ assumptions were highly unscientific. They started working together in hunting groups, which led to the development of language. Their hands were freed up so they could use tools. To procure it more effectively, often while competing with bigger, more ferocious animals, they started walking on two legs, which was faster and let them see into the distance. When the green food humans needed became scarce, they developed a taste for meat. But as she read it, she began to question his arguments.Īccording to Morris, humans’ ape-like ancestors were cast out of the trees and onto the ground because of changes in climate. It was Desmond Morris’s 1967 best-selling “The Naked Ape: A Zoologist’s Study of the Human Animal.” Morgan was not a scientist she had a degree in English from Oxford, which was rare for women at that time. Elaine Morgan was a part-time screenwriter for the BBC living in the Welsh countryside when she picked up an intriguing book on human evolution from her local library.

The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis by Elaine Morgan