>>
> because it doesn't do the female any good to broadcast that she's old
> and infertile.

Why not? In societies where the eldery were respected as wise men and women,
taken care of, and given relatively high status so they may pass along their
life experiences and "wisdom"? At least this is what some fossil evidence
points to because of the condition of some old-appearing bones that could
not have lived so long after injury/disease/etc. without care - and in most
extant hunter-gatherer societies that I've read about and seen on
television. As far as I can tell, it is only "modern" Western societies that
value youth and beauty so much over age and wisdom to the point where the
elderly are discarded in "homes".

>>
> It is worth noting at this point that (mind you I think this is rather
> funny) babies float.  As long as the water is calm and they don't float
> away, all is well.

After finding my way to the backyard swimming pool at just over one year of
age, I promptly sank to the bottom, and according to my mother I was blue,
not breathing, and lifeless when she found me - less than two minutes later.
At one, I had NO swimming reflex, and I was NOT so bouyant. Swimming pools
are pretty calm.
Knowing that humans in general are easily distracted and quite chatty
creatures, what would happen to all those "floating" babies in an "aquatic
ape" society even after just one or two minutes of lax supervision? Or even
much less than that, as I've heard of babies in bathtubs inhaling enough
water to render them unconscious and/or dead when whoever was bathing them
wasn't looking?

-Ellie