I could write a lot about the oft-maligned Aquatic Ape theory, but I feel there are others far more qualified for that task. To sum it up simply, supporters claim many human adaptions can be explained by a semi-aquatic lifestyle, while detractors point to such as being wholly unnecessary given the existence of other factors that would spur on said developments.
Personally, I tend to think that the more things a trait is good for, the more positive selection it’ll be under. Even if a comfortable bipedal gait originally developed for long distance walking, if it helped with wading through water and made certain resources more accessible than that’s all the more it had going for it. We are better swimmers than Chimpanzees, and that has been a proven boon to our livelihoods in itself regardless of whatever other reasons may have contributed.
The piece itself isn’t quite a reconstruction. Though labeled as “Homo habilis”, this appears to primarily just be an imaginative depiction of a primitive hominin with semi-aquatic features. Primarily the hairless blue-grey rubbery skin with a distinct fatty layer, as well a more developed nose which might aid in keeping water out.
Overall, this is a very simple, almost sterile, image with little in the way of detail. Just an ape man standing in a pristine sea. Though interesting and alien in its own way, it almost more leaves me wondering why there are not more depictions of such “Aquatic Apes”.
I suppose, just as with hairy Neanderthals, there are surprisingly few artists in the field who would care to bother with the more farfetched conceptualizations. In that regard, this image is perhaps a precious treasure, an inspiration for all the mermaids and mermen that might ever swim about in your heads.
—The Curator
Artist: Michael Rosskothen
Species: Homo habilis
Source: https://theconversation.com/sorry-david-attenborough-we-didnt-evolve-from-aquatic-apes-heres-why-65570
The Early Man Gallery 