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EvoAnth  ·  4153 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Chimp Seen Swimming for First Time

Although chimps do have a large amount of muscle, it's no greater than that seen in other mammalian species that are perfectly capable of swimming if they need to. Their lack of swimming prowess seems to stem from the fact they're ability to doggy paddle (the preferred stroke of terrestrial quadrupeds) is compromised by their arboreal adaptations. Perhaps as a result of this they've lost the innate knowledge of how to doggy paddle. As such they have to learn how to swim from scratch, which is rather difficult and dangerous.

The same is true of all apes, including humans. None of us have an innate knowledge of how to swim or the anatomical capacity to swim well using the typical strokes of terrestrial animals. We have to start from scratch.