A completely new approach to where we come from

We learn in modern school that apes and human being share a common ancestor. (Many people misquote this as "human beings are descendants of the apes").

It turns out that this notion  recently got competition by a revolutionary new hypothesis which at first sounds quite strange, but then is really compelling. As Eugene M. McCarthy explains comprehensively on his page, he proposes the hypothesis that humans are a so-called backcrossed hybrid. So rather than slowly evolving from a single species, according to this hypothesis, human beings might be a cross of two completely different species which then repeatedly mated with one of the ancestors. One of these ancestors he calls chimpanzees (however he states "here, I use the term chimpanzee loosely to refer to either the common chimpanzee or to the bonobo, also known as the pygmy chimpanzee; the specific roles of these two rather similar apes within the context of the present hypothesis will be explained in a subsequent section".

After having read the extremely interesting book "Sex at dawn" by Ryan and Jetha (I know the title is cheesy), I think it is prudent to believe that the bonobo is one of the ancestors. Then he addresses the question of which animal might be the second ancestor. He does this by meticulously listing (a subset) of the features found in humans but not in chimpanzees and then seeks to find an animal that has all of these features.

 Lets try it:

• Intelligent
• Naked skin
• Eyes in different colors, including blue
• Protruding nose (made of cartilage)
•  Eyebrows and Eyelashes present
• Good swimmer
• Eats a large variety of food

What animal comes to mind?

Let's say we have a bit of a difficult relationship to this animal.

But - we use its organs (for example skin or heart) to replace human organs.

Many religions forbid to eat the flesh of this animal.

And - last but not least - its the name of a song by Pink Floyd.

Pigs.

And if you look at such a cute specimen - don't you see something of us there?

This hypothesis causes some strange sensations, I have to admit it.

But it really makes a lot of sense. Here is just a selection of observations Eugene McCarthy shares:

• Humans are not very fertile, especially male sperm is often degenerate. This is common for hybrid mammals
• Pigs are indeed very intelligent
• Pigs have a cleft lip - something that never occurs in apes but may occur in humans

I will continue to think about this - to end for now this nice poem:

Thank the Pig by Gene McCarthy

Not everyone will say it's true,
But pigs are creatures much like you.
We ape an ape in many ways,
Yet pig distinctions win our praise.