The Epic Team-Up of Man & Monkey That YOU Demanded, True Believer!

[TheMojoPin]

This is pretty amazing: (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091001-oldest-human-skeleton-ardi-missing-link-chimps-ardipithecus-ramidus.html)

The big news in the journal Science tomorrow is the discovery of the oldest human skeleton--a small-brained, 110-pound female of the species Ardipithecus ramidus, nicknamed "Ardi." She lived in what is now Ethiopia 4.4 million years ago, which makes her over a million years older than the famous "Lucy" fossil, found in the same region thirty-five years ago.

One of the defining attributes of Lucy and all other hominids--members of our evolutionary lineage, including ourselves--is that they walk upright on two legs. While Ardi also walked on two legs on the ground, the species also clambered about on four legs in the trees. Ardi thus offers a fascinating glimpse of an ape caught in the act of becoming human.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/images/091001-oldest-human-skeleton-ardi-missing-link-chimps-ardipithecus-ramidus_big.jpg

[Dude!]

please don't mention this to Kirk Cameron

[A.J.]

So THIS is where it all began...

Lovejoy sees these changes as part of an epochal shift in social behavior: Instead of fighting for access to females, a male Ardipithecus would supply a "targeted female" and her offspring with gathered foods and gain her sexual loyalty in return.

To keep up his end of the deal, a male needed to have his hands free to carry home the food. Bipedalism may have been a poor way for Ardipithecus to get around, but through its contribution to the "sex for food" contract, it would have been an excellent way to bear more offspring. And in evolution, of course, more offspring is the name of the game (more: "Did Early Humans Start Walking for Sex?).

[TheMojoPin]

How perfect.

[Furtherman]

You should rename this thread. The term "missing link" is a common misconception. There is NO missing link. Evolution isn't like a chain, with one link missing between monkey and man. Evolution is a tree, with many different types of ancestors, or branches, who lived on this planet in the past. This type of human (Ardipithecus ramidus) isn't even like us, Homo sapiens, rather just a distant relative of the past.

The press stinks when it comes to reporting these finds because they will undoubtedly mention this "missing link" term, which doesn't exist.

[TheMojoPin]

You should rename this thread. The term "missing link" is a common misconception. There is NO missing link. Evolution isn't like a chain, with one link missing between monkey and man. Evolution is a tree, with many different types of ancestors, or branches, who lived on this planet in the past. This type of human (Ardipithecus ramidus) isn't even like us, Homo sapiens, rather just a distant relative of the past.

The press stinks when it comes to reporting these finds because they will undoubtedly mention this "missing link" term, which doesn't exist.

I know, but I wanted to keep it simple. Most people seem to at least grasp the idea of what a "missng link" entails. The article itself actually goes into what you're talking about:

The fossil puts to rest the notion, popular since Darwin's time, that a chimpanzee-like missing link—resembling something between humans and today's apes—would eventually be found at the root of the human family tree. Indeed, the new evidence suggests that the study of chimpanzee anatomy and behavior—long used to infer the nature of the earliest human ancestors—is largely irrelevant to understanding our beginnings.

I'll change it to better reflect that.

[Boogie in Va]

Earl??








:flush:

[Jujubees2]

Damn, I thought you were speaking of my man Linc hayes

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjAxMjA5MDY0NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMTk5MDQ2._V1._ SX277_SY400_.jpg

[topless_mike]

evolution boggles my mind.

[Furtherman]

I know, but I wanted to keep it simple. Most people seem to at least grasp the idea of what a "missng link" entails.

In this country? Not likely.

But I like the new title!

[west milly Tom]

I'm pretty sure I know that lady.

[Tall_James]

Lovejoy sees these changes as part of an epochal shift in social behavior

http://www.thevarguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/reverend-lovejoy.jpg

"I DID NOT SAY THAT!"

[GregoryJoseph]

I wonder how much of the actual skeleton they found and how much is conjecture.