Tonight, the Discovery Channel features a special on Ardipithecus ramidus called "Discovering Ardi". Although I haven't seen the video, the website for the project has a dozen video clips featuring Owen Lovejoy discussing the ramifications, some simulation video of Ardipithecus walking and a video on how Jay Matternes created his reconstruction drawing of Ardi.
Probable life appearance in anterior view of Ardipithecus ramidus (Ardi), ARA-VP 6/500.
Photo Credit: Illustrations © 2009, J.H. Matternes
To me, one interesting outcome from the reporting of Ardipithecus in Science has been the outpouring of "humans are not descended from apes!" stories. Despite what you might have read, there really isn't any basic change in who scholars believe humans are descended from—DNA tests have supported Darwin's theory all along that chimpanzees and African apes and humans are all descended from the same as-yet-undiscovered hominin, some 6 million years ago. Darwin wasn't wrong. What's changed because of 4.4 million year old Ardi's discovery is that the theoretical hominid's characteristics are likely to be less like chimpanzees than previously believed. It'll be interesting to see how the Discovery Channel covers this discussion.
- Discovery Channel's Discovering Ardi page
- Ardipithecus Photo Essay
- Science reporting on Ardi
Comments
John Ford says otherwise. Watch listen and report back. From what he said today it proves we are not decedents from Chimps, Apps etc etc. Chimps developed after this time and it was some other unknown primate. In other words they still don’t know but this fills in a blank.
@ Detter: We are not descended from chimps, but we are cousins. Darwin’s theory proposes that chimps and homo sapiens are descended from a shared ancestor—there was a split in the branch above us.
darwin was on drugs, he did not believe in God Allmighty so he resorted to drugs that is where evolution comes from, scientist tells us the earth is billions of years old, odd they know this but cannot tell what causes lightening?
Haha. Typical religious zealot.
No point people with closed minds like yours watching this revshifu
Atleast some of us will be able to watch it and not start crying about some god.
Great show but doesn’t prove that Ardi is our ancestor. How can anyone say that Ardi survived as an evolving species through the years and didn’t become extinct like so many other species? So why should we assume Ardi is our ancestor? I think we can say that Ardi could be our ancestor or another species that existed with some of our human traits.
Darwin did believe in God as far as I know. He also did not come up with the idea of evolution first. What he did is come up with the mechanism of evolution, that is Evolution through Natural Selection. Also science does not prove that God does not exist. That is a mater of belief. (I personally do not believe that God or gods exist, but that is my choice based on my observations.)
Just as “Ardi” has given us a glimpse into our far distant past, Religious Zealots and their like would like to pull a blindfold over our future. Religious Zealots don’t really care about our planet, the direction our species is going, or in the continuation of Humankind. They’re only concerned with keeping themselves blind to the truth in the hopes that when they die THEY’LL REALLY get to live it up in their afterlives. Earth is just a way station between being unborn and being an angel in heaven.
Everyone with a thinking head on their shoulders should absolutely FEAR the religious nutjobs out there who insist that God made us all, and the day of judgement is coming (Which will probably be a self-fullfilling prophecy as most religious kooks are more interested in dying to join their God, rather than enjoying the life that Nature has given them).
I saw the program and still fail to see why creatioinsts and evolutionists alike don’t think bigfoot or sasquatch is real. The program was pretty obvious evidence to support a sasquatch theory.
By the way, I am a “RZ” because I believe men are not made from monkeys.
Kris, I couldn’t help but notice on the Ardi program that the dig began with all these researchers scouring the surface of the ground for evidence of the fossils. They must have not known about the acceptable archaeological procedures. In fact, they very plainly showed the hunters walking and scraping thru the sandy, wind blown surface with dinner plates(must have not had enough sharp trowells) many of the bone fossils were clearly gathered from sediments that had obviously been disturbed over the past several million years as some were very close to the surface and some actually on the surface. Someone should have explained the proper procedures to those guys. The footage of the guy bending over and picking up a piece of a canine tooth allegedly from the fossil Ardi, from the surface causes one to wonder whether there are exceptions to the undisturbed context law you have tauted. You should correct them as aggressively as you have some others..But then I guess it is possible that the surface in Ethiopia may just have been excluded from the winds, rain,and flooding over the past few million years except for the rains they talked about that they had to wait on to continue their surface hunting….coming from such a context some may see Ardi as just a pile of fossils on a table with no real archaeological significance….rick d.
How do they know Ardi had hair all over her body? How do they know she had normal looking breast? She is certainly interesting though.
yes, how did they decide she had hair fully covering her body? i didn’t see that mentioned on the program…
another question, i believe in evolution to a degree ,but wonder how did the very first bacteria, or form of life or ball of colliding electrons come into existence in the first place.. ? it seems like the only logical thing for such a wonderful world and most importantly the amazing physiology of the body eyes, ears, or something as simple as bacteria flagella, equipped with a rotor of todays technology that has even been found in egyptian mummies a crazy amount of years ago.. baffling to me to say the least….its one of my easiest decisions to believe in God even if i don’t go to heaven after i die and just stay in the ground….of course, who created God is a better question
>>i believe in evolution to a degree ,but wonder how did the very first bacteria, or form of life or ball of colliding electrons come into existence in the first place?
sirwonky, that’s a question for cosmology.
Evolution does not make any claims but how the first life came into being, it only describes how life evolves (eg from simple to complex organisms).
Many christians (expecially scientists who are christians) believe that God started evolution off and/or guides it. But no one, bar religious zealots, deny the fact of evolution.
The evidence is so overwhelming. I recommend “Only a Theory” by Kenneth Miller (who is also a christian).
Ardi discovery proves that 4mil yrs ago our ancestors did not have big cannine teeth, so they probably eat fish and not meat. our ancestors may not have eaten meat until they arrived in a perma frosted europe.
TheBlindWatcher,
Thanks for the input that makes sense.. you’re right, i was throwing cosmology in the mix. i guess cosmology is where it’s at… i don’t deny evolution at all, i just always hear atheists or agnostics say we came out of thin air basically and every animal and human evolutionized into awesomeness. as crazy and ridiculous as it sounds that an all mighty God created the universe, i think its way more far fetched to think all of this life came into place as it is now…it seems like most peple i talk with are evolutionist vs. creationists but i don’t hear much from the creationistic evolutionist if that term exists… thanks for your recommendation “Only a Theory”, i’ll check it out sometime on youtube. yeah id have to agree with the christian scientists who go with the belief God guides evolution..
Darwin was a Racist and a Sexist: “At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. Sexist-”We may also infer…[that]the average of mental power in man must be above that of woman..–Darwin from The Descent of Man. Chapter 6 and page 566
Just because a person is sexist or racist does not exclude their theories. It just proves that they have shallow impressions of others. Darwin has been a scientific model who has yet to be disproved…despite his racist and sexist views. So whether there was a point to your statement or not…Darwin will continue to be in science books thousands of years from now no matter how anyone feels about him. Get over it!
this is amazing