# Why are humans such better swimmers than all our primate cousins? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520 "2013-08-06T19:41:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/1 "2013-08-06T19:41:56Z")
Reading the old staff column on [aquatic apes](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1991/did-humans-descend-from-aquatic-apes) - the notion that we evolved in the water. It’s outdated and has no evidence, but prompts the question - why are we so better suited for water than all the other primates (or are we)? ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/2 "2013-08-06T19:47:11Z")
Having a lot of fur seems not to mix well with swimming. Also, I get the impression that we have rather long legs compared to other apes. Perhaps our upright posture also allows us to use our legs well to propel us. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/3 "2013-08-06T19:49:05Z")
I don’t think there was ever a reason for primates to evolve as swimmers. Usually species evolved features to serve some purpose that gave them an increased survival rate. A swimming primate doesn’t really gain anything in terms of food, shelter, reproduction by having that skill. Humans swim for recreation more than anything. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/4 "2013-08-06T19:52:46Z")
If you want to know why we’re better swimmers, it is because they have so much less body fat than us. Fat floats. Muscle sinks. If you want to know why we evolved this way and they evolved that way, beats me. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/5 "2013-08-06T20:16:30Z")
I think it’s because we use proper technique. I don’t think body fat is an important factor. Yes, it will help you float, but not swim faster. To be sure, many female fast swimmers are slightly on the heavy side, but I don’t see that in the fast male swimmers. ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/6 "2013-08-06T20:18:56Z")
I don’t buy the fat floats=good swimmer thing. Olympic swimmers are usually like, 4% body fat and that doesn’t seem to cause them problems. Obese people aren’t better swimmers than average people. I think that humans don’t innately know how to swim, just like all the other great apes. Very young infants can do that brief, swimming underwater trick, but that ability goes away when the baby gets a few months older. But humans teach other humans to swim. The other great apes could probably learn to swim if they had ape-parents that taught them, just as human children learn. They still wouldn’t be very good at it, though they could probably learn to paddle enough to avoid sinking like a rock. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/7 "2013-08-06T20:26:35Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Having a lot of fur seems not to mix well with swimming. Tell that to the seals, muskrats, beavers, sea lions… ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/8 "2013-08-06T20:34:27Z")
[Mabel the Swimming Wonder Monkey](http://torontodreamsproject.blogspot.com/2011/02/mabel-swimming-wonder-monkey-or-great.html) learned to swim- others could too, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/9 "2013-08-06T20:40:41Z")
Note that because of our bipedal design, we have to LEARN to swim. A fundamental difference with quadripedal animals who naturally float with their heads out of the water, and can propel themselves basically by simply making walking motions while doing so. They don’t really have to learn how. Regarding other great apes, I would guess that it may be the case that they simply wind up not learning how because it isn’t important to them. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/10 "2013-08-07T00:26:02Z")
We have a shoulder that is significantly more optimized for accurate throwing than apes. Perhaps the motions that it allows just happens to be useful for effective swimming. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/11 "2013-08-07T00:30:50Z")
Because we are on a totally different evolutionary path from the great apes. Our bodies have little hair…we have bigger brains, and we have fully opposed thumbs. We are totally different in design. Most of the primates fear water; we seem designed to be in it. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/12 "2013-08-07T00:34:16Z")
I remember seeing a Jane Goodall documentary decades ago in which her son (then just a little kid) was swimming in the ocean with a young baboon. The baboon seemed to be a fairly natural swimmer. Goodall and the young baboon’s mother were both sitting close by, keeping an eye on their respective kids, and neither Mom seemed to mind the other’s presence. So, at least SOME apes seem to swim pretty well, and to do it just for fun. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/13 "2013-08-07T00:50:49Z")
A chimp in water will sink like a rock. They actually have an innate fear of large bodies of water, rivers, and even moats. It’s all due to body fat. Chimps have none. ---
**Author:** ![Oldeb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@Oldeb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oldeb)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/14 "2013-08-07T00:53:13Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > We have a shoulder that is significantly more optimized for accurate throwing than apes. Perhaps the motions that it allows just happens to be useful for effective swimming. This. The human shoulder is noticeably different from all other apes. We have a _much_ broader range of motion. You could not teach a chimp, gorilla, orangutan, or gibbon to be a competitive swimmer. They simply can’t move their arms properly. Other apes don’t progress much beyond dog paddle the same way they struggle to throw a fastball or hurl a spear. Of course the trade off is that humans don’t do as well in trees, but so far it seems to be working out for us. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/15 "2013-08-07T00:59:58Z")
Most humans don’t swim very well without instruction. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/16 "2013-08-07T01:58:35Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > It’s outdated and has no evidence, but prompts the question - why are we so better suited for water than all the other primates (or are we)? It’s only apes that don’t swim well. Many monkeys can swim just fine, among them the [Crab-eating Macaque](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beEAKVZsJe8), [Proboscis Monkey,](http://www.arkive.org/proboscis-monkey/nasalis-larvatus/video-06c.html) and [Howler Monkey.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW4Naupfwr0) [This one even swims laps.](http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/jul/10/monkey-swims-mumbai-pool-video) As tree-dwelling animals, most monkeys don’t have much occasion to swim, but when they do they are just as capable as most other mammals. Apes may have more trouble swimming because of their more upright stance, even when in trees. In monkeys, when the body is horizontal in the water the nose is above water. In apes, when the body is horizontal the neck has to be crooked in order for the nose to be above water. Humans are probably better at swimming than other apes mainly 1) because we can learn to do so; 2) we have had reason to learn to swim to collect food in water. > [@ralph124c](#): > > We are totally different in design. Most of the primates fear water; we seem designed to be in it. This is totally wrong. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/17 "2013-08-07T02:24:36Z")
there are monkeys that live in the swamp and imho, they are better swimmers than we are. they are fast and they move quickly underwater, and they don’t need wetsuits. on the other hand, we are better swimmers on the water surface, where there would be no reason for an animal to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/18 "2013-08-07T05:28:37Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Tell that to the seals, muskrats, beavers, sea lions… … otters, polar bears, platypodes … ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/19 "2013-08-07T11:54:55Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > I think it’s because we use proper technique. This would be my guess. What about comparing a human and another primate, both with no experience of swimming? Compared to most mammals we suck at swimming without practice. Has another ever tried teaching a (non-human) great ape to swim efficiently? Then maybe you could make an interesting comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520/20 "2013-08-07T12:00:26Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > … otters, polar bears, platypodes … Oh my. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-humans-such-better-swimmers-than-all-our-primate-cousins/665520.md?page=2)