We owe our swimming style to our evolutionary past, as just like apes we have a tendency to swim using a form of breaststroke, a new study has revealed.
The study conducted on chimpanzees and orang-utans also suggested that unlike humans, great apes do not prefer deep water dives because they are afraid of finding unseen predators that might be loitering there, New Scientist reported.
However, the detailed description by University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa has showed that they may go deep if they feel safe enough.
It was found that the chimpanzee and the orang-utan both moved their limbs out sideways from their bodies.
Researchers suggested that while almost all other four-limbed mammals use doggy paddle with their limbs moving vertically through the water directly beneath their body, apes exhibit an unusual behaviour.
