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Author Topic:   The story of Bones and Dogs and Humans
RAZD
Member (Idle past 1405 days)
Posts: 20714
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Joined: 03-14-2004


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Message 1 of 2 (809437)
05-18-2017 11:56 AM


It's one thing to look at charts of descent, it's another to look at the actual bones of actual fossils. Let's start with a short comparison to dog variations. Creationists like to point to dogs and say that they show plenty of variation without becoming a new species.
Dog variation indeed shows how much phenotypes can vary within a species and still remain a species. Dog variation is achieved through artificial (man-made) selection, but it can show us what is possible in nature when we look at the evolution of species. We can use the variation observed in dogs as a metric for how much can occur within a species, and then look at the difference between species to see if that shows more or less variation than seen in dogs.
If we look at the variation in skeletons between Humans and Chimps (note skeletons not scaled the same):
Is the variation more or less than the variation seen in dogs?
If we add Gorillas to the mix (note skeletons not scaled the same):
Is the variation more or less than the variation seen in dogs?
Now let's add a composite Australopithicus, based mostly on Lucy, but with parts added from other fossils, such as skull and feet (note skeletons not scaled the same):
Is the variation more or less than the variation seen in dogs?
Lets look at the first three with size appropriate scaled skeletons:
Again, is the variation more or less than the variation seen in dogs?
Let's compare human to Homo habilis and Australopithicus (note skeletons not scaled the same):
Again, is the variation more or less than the variation seen in dogs?
And then we have Ardipiticus ramidus (Ardi), incomplete but we have enough to compare them to those above:
A reconstruction is also available:
Where the known bones are in place and the probable reconstruction is sketched in.
Let's put Ardi in a line-up with Humans, Australopithicus and Chimps (note skeletons not scaled the same):
Is the variation in traits seen in the bones between modern humans and Ardi more or less than the variation seen in dogs?
Inquiring minds want to know.
If the variation between species seen in the fossil record is less than that seen in dogs, then it is logical and reasonable that the younger species can have evolved from the older species, especially if found in close proximity within the spacial-temporal matrix.
Enjoy
Edited by RAZD, : .
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