Premium
Brief communication: Swimming and diving behavior in apes ( Pan troglodytes and Pongo pygmaeus ): First documented report
Author(s) -
Bender Renato,
Bender Nicole
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.22338
Subject(s) - quadrupedalism , arboreal locomotion , troglodytes , pongo pygmaeus , biology , zoology , hominidae , ecology , anatomy , habitat , biological evolution , genetics
Extant hominoids, including humans, are well known for their inability to swim instinctively. We report swimming and diving in two captive apes using visual observation and video recording. One common chimpanzee and one orangutan swam repeatedly at the water surface over a distance of 2–6 m; both individuals submerged repeatedly. We show that apes are able to overcome their negative buoyancy by deliberate swimming, using movements which deviate from the doggy‐paddle pattern observed in other primates. We suggest that apes' poor swimming ability is due to behavioral, anatomical, and neuromotor changes related to an adaptation to arboreal life in their early phylogeny. This strong adaptive focus on arboreal life led to decreased opportunities to interact with water bodies and consequently to a reduction of selective pressure to maintain innate swimming behavior. As the doggy paddle is associated with quadrupedal walking, a deviation from terrestrial locomotion might have interfered with the fixed rhythmic action patterns responsible for innate swimming. Am J Phys Anthropol 152:156–162, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.