The many-hour BBC documentary Planet Earth, mentioned earlier, takes viewers way off the beaten track — deep into giant caves, for example. But humans — and human evolution — creep in.
Non-human primates are shown a dozen-odd times during the series. Only once do we see them walk erect: When baboons wade into a flooded area of Africa. This adds credence to the Aquatic Ape theory of human evolution, which assumes our ancestors came to walk upright because it helped them walk in water. David Attenborough, Planet Earth ’s narrator, made an excellent radio show about the Aquatic Ape theory.
The Aquatic Ape theory explains all sorts of physical differences between man and our closest primate ancestors — why we walk upright and they don’t, for example. My ideas about human evolution are about what happened next. I try to explain ways we differ mentally from other primates — we speak, for example. The core idea of my theory is that the human brain has changed in many ways to promote occupational specialization. For example, language — single words — began because it facilitated trade; it was the first advertising. (I think of a Guatemalan market where someone shouted “toothpaste” over and over. He was selling toothpaste.)
The magic of occupational specialization also comes up in Planet Earth. The “Planet Earth Diaries” (Making-of) section of “Seasonal Forests” describes filming baobab trees using a unique hot-air balloon designed for photography by Dany Cleyet-Marrel and piloted by him. Twice he flies into trees by mistake. “Many of Planet Earth ’s finest images would have been impossible without devoted and passionate specialists like Dany,” says Attenborough.
The many-hour BBC documentary Planet Earth, mentioned earlier, takes viewers way off the beaten track — deep into giant caves, for example. But humans — and human evolution — creep in.
Non-human primates are shown a dozen-odd times during the series. Only once do we see them walk erect: When baboons wade into a flooded area of Africa. This adds credence to the Aquatic Ape theory of human evolution, which assumes our ancestors came to walk upright because it helped them walk in water. David Attenborough, Planet Earth ’s narrator, made an excellent radio show about the Aquatic Ape theory.
The Aquatic Ape theory explains all sorts of physical differences between man and our closest primate ancestors — why we walk upright and they don’t, for example. My ideas about human evolution are about what happened next. I try to explain ways we differ mentally from other primates — we speak, for example. The core idea of my theory is that the human brain has changed in many ways to promote occupational specialization. For example, language — single words — began because it facilitated trade; it was the first advertising. (I think of a Guatemalan market where someone shouted “toothpaste” over and over. He was selling toothpaste.)
The magic of occupational specialization also comes up in Planet Earth. The “Planet Earth Diaries” (Making-of) section of “Seasonal Forests” describes filming baobab trees using a unique hot-air balloon designed for photography by Dany Cleyet-Marrel and piloted by him. Twice he flies into trees by mistake. “Many of Planet Earth ’s finest images would have been impossible without devoted and passionate specialists like Dany,” says Attenborough.