Science

Tonight Animal Planet will be airing a special on mermaids which promises to be about as accurate as the 1990s classic "Alien Autopsy" video. But one thing the faux-cumentary mentions is the "aquatic ape" hypothesis, which is a pseudoscientific theory that just won't quite die.

 

According to this theory of evolution, humankind went through an aquatic phase. This phase is said to explain several mysteries, including our diving reflex, our hairlessness, the pattern of hair on our bodies, and our lack of a "missing link." Fossil evidence would be missing, according to this theory, because we were living in the water at the time.

 

This isn't entirely without precedent. Whales famously came ashore, lived as land animals for a while, then returned to the water. However, the evidence against the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis is both voluminous and convincing.