Expelled(Ben Stein Documentary)

[ZANYMASTER]

So what seems to be more accurate,the evolution from ape or the evolution form a fish?Please enlighten me either way.

 

[e.muehlbauer]

Both are equally accurate. Humans, along with all tetrapod vertebrates descended from a fish-like ancestor. We don't know what that ancestor was, but Tiktallik is a recently discovered fossil that neatly combines amphibian and fish characteristics...it may not be the common ancestor, but it is close to it and is representative of the type. As for apes, the human line split from the chimpanzee line about 6-7 million years ago, more or less. Its hard to really say what the dividing line is...the apes used to be separated in the family Pongidae, now I believe they are actually considered Hominidae with humans. By the time of Ardipthecus ramidus, about 4.2 mya, our ancestors were bipedal, but brain and head-wise they were like chimps. The really intriguing fossils are Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Orrorin tugenensis...these date from about 6-7 mya, and are close to the common ancestor of chimps and humans...perhaps one of them may turn out to be the ancestor if further evidence is found, but the fossils are extremely fragmentary. However, thigh bones do exist from Orrorin, and they show that it was also bipedal! Even more interesting is molecular evidence showing that although the chimp and human lines diverged about 6-7 mya or so, they converged about 4.5 mya and then separated again.

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Interesting.Thanks.