0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
quote:Originally posted by GordonPSupposing our ancestors were already a seperate species of ape distinct from the ancestors of the other apes.
quote: (Chimps and Gorilla's don't interbreed, at some time their linage must have split without isolation)
quote:The Bwindi-Impenetrable Great Ape Project (BIGAPE) was begun in 1996 in Bwindi-Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda. The research project's central goal is a better understanding of the ecological relationship between the park's populations of mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii). The world population of mountain gorillas is currently estimated at 600, half of which live in the 331 square kilometers of Bwindi. The Bwindi chimpanzee population size is unknown but roughly estimated at 350-400. The nearby Virunga Volcanoes Conservation Area has a population of 300 mountain gorillas but no chimpanzees, making Bwindi the only forest in Africa in which these two apes occur together.
quote:Originally posted by another_someonequote:Originally posted by GordonPSupposing our ancestors were already a seperate species of ape distinct from the ancestors of the other apes.I certainly know of no proof that full time bipedalism and speciation happened at the same time, and it seems quite possible that speciation happened first, and then full time bipedalism happened subsequently as a consequence of genetic drift.Which is what I proposed originally. A particular species of ape begin to live on the fringes of the forest quote: (Chimps and Gorilla's don't interbreed, at some time their linage must have split without isolation)What makes you think that?Think what, that they don't interbreed or that their linage must have split without isolation?[/size=2rcf.usc.edu/~stanford/bigape.htmlQuoteThe Bwindi-Impenetrable Great Ape Project (BIGAPE) was begun in 1996 in Bwindi-Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda. The research project's central goal is a better understanding of the ecological relationship between the park's populations of mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii). The world population of mountain gorillas is currently estimated at 600, half of which live in the 331 square kilometers of Bwindi. The Bwindi chimpanzee population size is unknown but roughly estimated at 350-400. The nearby Virunga Volcanoes Conservation Area has a population of 300 mountain gorillas but no chimpanzees, making Bwindi the only forest in Africa in which these two apes occur together. In other words, even today, with this one exception, Chimpanzees and Gorillas do not inhabit the same forests.How is this incompatable with my theory? Speciation can happen to different groups living in different ares of the same jungle. G W Pipes
The Bwindi-Impenetrable Great Ape Project (BIGAPE) was begun in 1996 in Bwindi-Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda. The research project's central goal is a better understanding of the ecological relationship between the park's populations of mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii). The world population of mountain gorillas is currently estimated at 600, half of which live in the 331 square kilometers of Bwindi. The Bwindi chimpanzee population size is unknown but roughly estimated at 350-400. The nearby Virunga Volcanoes Conservation Area has a population of 300 mountain gorillas but no chimpanzees, making Bwindi the only forest in Africa in which these two apes occur together.
quote:Originally posted by thebrain13hey anothersomeone, they just found evidence that kangaroos used to eat meat.
quote:A flesh-eating kangaroo and a crocodile that jumped down on its prey from the trees are drawing the crowds in Sydney, Australia. The extinct animals are just two examples of the extraordinary giant creatures that once roamed the continent. Their remains have only recently been unearthed and are throwing new light on the so-called megafauna that lived in the region many thousands and even millions of years ago and more.
quote:Tree-kangaroos are macropods adapted for life on trees. They are found in the rainforests of New Guinea, far north-eastern Queensland, and nearby islands, usually in mountainous areas.It is understood that tree kangaroos evolved from creatures similar to modern kangaroos and wallabies, as they retain many standard macropod adaptations to life in the plains—notably the massive hind legs and long, narrow feet which allow orthodox macropods to travel fast and economically on the ground. Tree kangaroos have developed exceptionally long tails for balance, and stronger forelimbs for climbing. The feet are shorter and wider, they have longer claws on all feet, and rubbery soles for better grip.The ancestors of all kangaroos are believed to have been small arboreal marsupials that looked like some of Australia's present-day possums. The earliest macropods diverged from this line when they descended to the ground and evolved bodies adapted for rapid motion over the earth and rocks. Why ancestors of the tree kangaroos at some point returned to the trees is not known.Tree kangaroos are slow and clumsy on the ground: they move at about walking pace and hop awkwardly, leaning their body far forward to balance the heavy tail. But in trees they are bold and agile. They climb by wrapping the forelimbs around the trunk of a tree and hopping with the powerful hind legs, allowing the forelimbs to slide. They are expert leapers: 9-metre downward jumps from one tree to another have been recorded, and they have an extraordinary ability to jump to the ground from height without ill effect: 18 metres or more.
quote:Originally posted by GordonPSkull Fossil Opens Window Into Early Period Of Human Origins. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0710_020710_chadskull_2.html It seems that scientists are having to consider the possiblity that bipedalism may have evolved while our ancestors still lived in a wooded enviroment. The discovery of the skull which has been classed as hominid and named Sahelanthropus tchadensis took place in an area 1500 miles west of the Rift Valley in Africa. The skull is estimated to be between 6 and 7 million years old. At that time the environment in this area is thought to have been forests and wooded savanna.
quote:Exactly where Sahelanthropus belongs on the family tree is not possible to determine at this time. Despite the detailed analysis and published claims, the question of identity remains open-ended. Is it actually a new hominid, or a variation of some other previously identified species, or perhaps even an ape? Some observers have suggested, for example, that because of its small canine teeth, Sahelanthropus may be a female chimp. Brunet was in the field in Chad and unavailable for comment. In an interview with a newspaper reporter in Chad, however, he said: "This brow ridge is thicker than that of a male gorilla so the probability that it's a female is very low." "It is a hominid," he declared. Stringer said such questions in the world of paleontology are always complex because evidence is usually incomplete and there is little agreement about what key features characterize a distinct human ancestor. "Everyone has a favorite model of or take on what would identify early members of the human line—it's a matter of interpretation," he said. "This creature could be our missing ancestor, it could be on the human line of evolution. But I don't think we can really say yet that it's a human relative, or even whether it's male or female," he said. "We simply don't have the signposts to know what the ancestors of gorillas and chimps and humans looked like."
quote:Brunet believes Sahelanthropus was bipedal at least part of the time.