Re: diving hominids?


Rick Wagler wrote:
"Lee Olsen" <paleocity@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1189997850.352100.39880@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Marc Verhaegen wrote:

These people simply don't know whaqt they're talking about.

Says the amateur who doesn't know the difference between a mountain
beaver and a capybara.

PS, what is "whaqt"???

However on this point my faulty memory betrayed me.

I wasn't referring to your memory, but Verheagin's blanket statement
of "people" in general.

Score one for the bad guys. But relative to the original
claim for convergence of human dive reflex to a condition
seen in seals a little webbing around on pubmed produced
research articles that indicated amongst other interesting
little tidbits

Weddell seals have 14X the myoglobin that an
elite athlete does.

The blood of Elephant seals carry 5X the oxygen
relative to humans.

The total blood volume per 100 kg body weight in
a harbour seal is 1.5X that of humans.

Hawaiian monk seals reduce their heart rate to 4-15
beats per minute vs 55-120 beats at the surface.

So greatly increased levels of myoglobin, higher blood volume
carrying greater amounts of O2, and extreme bradycardia
represents a suite of adaptations no human can come within
a country mile of matching.


On another matter entirely zebras sweat...a lot

Since the tools at Gona are found in the same levels as ostriches,
tortoises, and antelope (all can function just fine in near desert
condtions), the tool makers must have been sweating a lot also. There
are too many tools and the archaeological record at Gona is
continuous, the makers were not dying from a lack of so-called "rare"
salt deficiency.


Rick Wagler

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