Re: New Savanna Man from China 2 mya




Op 20-11-2007 11:28, in artikel 1ld5k39ev1lemitkpvn5v114osift1ukls@xxxxxxx,
Gerrit Hanenburg <G.Hanenburg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> schreef:


You are still narrowly focussed on the depositional location only.

No, no: we know that humans have no fur & have a lot of SC fat & aligned
body posture etc.etc., features only seen in mammals that spend a lot of
time in water. W+L's list shows that not everything in so-called savanna
have to be savanna runners:
Pila ovata Air-breathing, shallow-water swamp snail
Claria sp. Shallow-water catfish
Clarotes sp. Catfish
Hydrocynus sp. Shallow- to deep-water fish predator
Synodontis sp. Shallow-water spiny catfish
Varanus niloticus Scavenging and often aquatic lizard
Trionyx sp. Soft-shelled freshwater turtle
Pelomedusidae spp. Smooth-shelled water tortoise
Homo erectus Waterside hominid (this study)
Metridiochoerus sp. Grazing pig
Hippopotamus aethiopicus Aquatic herbivore
Hippopotamus gorgops Aquatic herbivore
Bovidae spp. (duiker- to buffalo-sized) Grazing and browsing herbivores
Lepus capensis Grass and herb feeder
This list is to be expected in AAT.

This list is to be expected in any terrestrial water-laid deposit, be
it lacustrine or fluvial. That's generally how terrestrial deposits
accumulate (eolian deposits are an exception, see Laetoli).
But such local depositional environments are not in themselves
indicative of the habitat of the taxa sampled from it.

What you can't seem understand, or are unwilling to is that the previous
list differs from the following:

Nobody disputes that that was a very wet location at the time.
But we also want to know what existed beyond that location, its wider
ecological context. And that was why I posted the faunal list of the
entire Natoo Member of which NK3 is a part. So, let's have a look at
it again:
Hystrix sp. Tragelaphus strepsiceros
Theropithecus oswaldi Pelorovis turkanensis
Cercocebus/Colobus sp. Pelorovis sp. nov.
Homo erectus Hippotragus gigas
Canis cf. C. mesomelas Kobus sigmoidalis
Carnivora indet. Kobus kob
Hipparion cf. H. ethiopicum Menelikia lyrocera
Equus cf. E. grevyi Reduncini (medium)
Equus cf. E. burchelli Reduncini (small)
Equidae gen indet. Megalotragus sp.
Rhinocerotidae gen. indet. Connochaetes sp.
Kolpochoerus limnetes Damaliscus sp.
Metridiochoerus compactus Alcelaphini (medium)
Met. hopwoodi (?) Alcelaphini (small)
Hexaprotodon karumensis Aepyceros melampus
Hippopotamus gorgops Gazella janenschi
H. aethiopicum Gazella praethompsoni
Sivatherium maurusium Gazella sp.
Giraffa sp. Caprini gen. indet.
Swamp only?

Nobody says that. Point is He was found amid catfish, reeds, swamp
snails...Hares & giraffes have fur & +-no SC fat.

We have no such soft tissue information on the Turkana boy.

Of course, but:
1) Everybody agrees the Boy was closer to H (furless, fat) than to P or G
(furred, lean).
2) Pachyostosis in mammals is always accompanied by SC fat.
3) Newborn P & G are naked (& lean).
IOW, there's little doubt that He had no fur (if tropical) & was fat.

An appeal to the molecular level does not help your case as there is
quite some distance between genetics and the way natural selection
acts on populations through the environment.

You don't understand a word of biology & selection.
Nat.selection works on combinations of genes.
Not on populations, my boy.
Never heard of Dawkins?

I'm quite familiar with the gene centered perspective. But natural
selection still changes gene frequencies by acting on the individual
vehicles that carry them. There are no naked genes.

The point is that genes inherit apart: never heard of recombination?
Selection so incredibly effective because it works simulateously in all
members of the species. All features are inherited apart.

Yet, you can't have a snorkel without a head. Gerrit

My little boy, all combinations of genes have heads.
Think before trying to say something.

.

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