They have finally found the connection...

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Quote:

Originally posted by C Elegans I guess you mean you don't understand how human could come from the apes? (Such as gorillas and chimps?) The answer is we didn't - instead, we have a [i]common ancenstor[i] far back in time. Protein homology comparisons indicate that it should be about 6 million years ago chimps and humans had a common ancestor. The Toumai skull indicates it might be a longer ago than that. However, in brief - evolution science and molecular genetics shows we related to chimps and gorillas as third cousins, not like grandfathers.

Speak for yourself, you obviously haven't met my dad...

[C Elegans]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ode to a Grasshopper Speak for yourself, you obviously haven't met my dad...

He shouldn't be a gorilla, more like an Homo habilis. Is he capable of rudimentary forms of speech? If not, he might instead belong to the Australopithecus

[frogus]

Quote:

Originally posted by C Elegans He shouldn't be a gorilla, more like an Homo habilis. Is he capable of rudimentary forms of speech? If not, he might instead belong to the Australopithecus

ROFL...ah, CE. It's the way you tell 'em.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Quote:

Originally posted by C Elegans He shouldn't be a gorilla, more like an Homo habilis. Is he capable of rudimentary forms of speech? If not, he might instead belong to the Australopithecus

Nah, he's definitely a silverback... Technically yes, but his specialty is sitting on the couch watching TV...

[C Elegans]

@Frogus:

Quote:

Originally posted by Ode to a Grasshopper Nah, he's definitely a silverback... Technically yes, but his specialty is sitting on the couch watching TV...

Are you positive? Good, because the mountain gorilla is a severaly endangered species, even more so after the war in Rwanda - now we at least now there is a population in Oz too Trouble is, if you dad's a silverback...where does that leave you?

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Quote:

Originally posted by C Elegans @Frogus: Are you positive? Good, because the mountain gorilla is a severaly endangered species, even more so after the war in Rwanda - now we at least now there is a population in Oz too Trouble is, if you dad's a silverback...where does that leave you?

Taking strongly after my mother's side of the family. My dad had black hair until he was 30, then it went grey. My hair is thankfully tawny, like my mother's, and is likely to go silver when I get 'old', as such. Ie. not 30.

Actually, it's sort of spooky how little I take after my father's side of the family...

[Nomer]

Quote:

Originally posted by C Elegans Hm, there seems to be a little confusion in terminology here. Humans are primates - primates are a large order of mammals including among others man, the great apes, monkeys, lemurs and galagos. I guess you mean you don't understand how human could come from the apes? (Such as gorillas and chimps?) The answer is we didn't - instead, we have a [i]common ancenstor[i] far back in time. Protein homology comparisons indicate that it should be about 6 million years ago chimps and humans had a common ancestor. The Toumai skull indicates it might be a longer ago than that. However, in brief - evolution science and molecular genetics shows we related to chimps and gorillas as third cousins, not like grandfathers.

Confusion is not the half of it. It is called lack of sleep and too much studying.

But, I see your meaning. So genetically speaking, we would be related to everything on this planet, in one way or another.

[The Z]

@Ode.....he could be an Ardipithecus Ramidus.....

[Gwalchmai]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ode to a Grasshopper Actually, it's sort of spooky how little I take after my father's side of the family...

And how familiar the milk man looks.......

[C Elegans]

@Z: ROFL

Quote:

Originally posted by Gwalchmai And how familiar the milk man looks.......

ROFLMAO Hi Gwally Since I think you're far more knowledgable than I am about hominid evolution, I'd be interest in your opinion of the finding of the Toumai skull.

[Vinin]

So yes in response, eventually, we are related to everything, even my pet hamster...ohh how I wish it could talk like the ones in Hamtaro ...

[The Z]

I'll comment later when I find my Gr. 7 Socials notes.....it's buried under a pile of various junk that will take a very long time to sort through......though Gwally can probably give 10 times the amount of feedback from just his head

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Quote:

Originally posted by Gwalchmai And how familiar the milk man looks.......

Actually, I was debating whether to say that myself...

[Gwalchmai]

Quote:

Originally posted by C Elegans ROFLMAO Hi Gwally Since I think you're far more knowledgable than I am about hominid evolution, I'd be interest in your opinion of the finding of the Toumai skull.

I am hardly and expert, but here goes.....

I am struck by the fossils that were found – a jaw fragment, cranium, and some teeth. Heh, heh. Just what was found with Piltdown! I assume these were in better context….

What we have to remember is that Chimps are just as evolved as Humans. They didn’t stop evolving millions of years ago just because we split off from them. No, the common ancestor of chimps and humans would have to be somewhat different from both. Even though the author of the Nature article that CE posted ascribes to homoplasy (first paragraph, second post), he still expects that an early hominid will have smaller canines and larger brains than the early ancestor of the chimps (last two paragraphs of first post). That small contradiction aside, he goes on to make his case for homoplasy based on this skull. Yes, paleoanthropologists can predict general characteristics of theorized ancestral populations, but specific characteristics (size of brow ridge, size of canines) require evidence.

Does the Toumai skull push the date of the Chimp/Human ancestor back to 6 or 7 million years? Maybe. But if homoplasy and adaptive radiation are taken to the extreme, it is possible that the forerunner of the chimp once had a larger brain, smaller canine, and more upright posture, and that 6 million years of adaptation to the Chimp’s econiche has brought it to where it is today. The Chimp/Human common ancestor may post-date Toumai. Its geographic location apart from other early hominid fossils (last paragraph, CE’s third quote-post) could just as easily prove my point as well as theirs.

Concerning the “missing link.” My physical anthropology teacher told me that there was no such thing as a missing link. That was 18 years ago when he said that. Humans and Chimps are already sufficiently linked through fossil evidence. They are only now quibbling about which fossils form the most direct link.

[Tybaltus]

Keep remembering that evolution is a theory and is not proven. Though, I do primarily believe that evolution is quite possible, have you ever thought that when God created this planet and the universe, he dicided to throw in some red herrings to trigger our curiousity? This thought goes through my mind now and again.