There is no proof that we evolved from apes. Period

the Sunday Telegraph ^ | 9/11/05 | Vij Sodera

[flevit]

Simon Schama appears to have little understanding of biology (Opinion, September 4). With an ostrich mindset that tries to ignore reality, pseudo-scientists continue in the vain hope that if they shout loud and long enough they can perpetuate the fairy story and bad science that is evolution.

You don't have to be a religious fundamentalist to question evolution theory - you just have to have an open and enquiring mind and not be afraid of challenging dogma. But you must be able to discern and dodge the effusion of evolutionary landmines that are bluster and non sequiturs.

No one denies the reality of variation and natural selection. For example, chihuahuas and Great Danes can be derived from a wolf by selective breeding. Therefore, a chihuahua is a wolf, in the same way that people of short stature and small brain capacity are fully human beings.

However, there is no evidence (fossil, anatomical, biochemical or genetic) that any creature did give rise, or could have given rise, to a different creature. In addition, by their absence in the fossil record for (supposed) millions of years along with the fact of their existence during the same time period, many animals such as the coelacanth demonstrate the principle that all creatures could have lived contemporaneously in the past.

No evidence supports the notion that birds evolved from dinosaurs, nor that whales evolved from terrestrial quadrupeds, nor that the human knee joint evolved from a fish pelvic fin. And the critically-positioned amino acids at the active sites within enzymes and structural proteins show that the origination of complex proteins by step-wise modifications of supposed ancestral peptides is impossible. In other words, birds have always been birds, whales have always been whales, apes did not evolve into humans, and humans have always been humans.

But you might protest that it has been proved that we evolved from apes. In fact, the answer is a categorical No. Australopithecines, for example, were simply extinct apes that in a few anatomical areas differed from living apes. If some of them walked bipedally to a greater degree than living apes, this does not constitute evidence that apes evolved into humans - it just means that some ancient apes were different from living apes.

[brwnsuga]

Thanks. Perhaps you can help me in my Microbiology class I have coming up?

[Thatcherite]

Marvellous, a vet who hands out biology tutorials to her patients' owners.

I wonder if the cat survived? She was wrong. Vitamin C is synthesised by most vertebrates in sufficient quantity that they don't require it in their diet.

(Prosser, C. (ed.). 1973. Comparative animal physiology. 3rd ed. W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia)

Humans on the other hand grow very ill without it, and will eventually die. Hence my national nickname in the states; Limey, due to the Royal Navy preventing scurvy in its sailors by issuing citrus fruits. This practice greatly increased the practicality and safety of long ocean voyages, which indirectly along with the marine chronometer made Darwin's voyage on the Beagle possible.

[js1138]

Your vet is a nitwit.

http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bpo_ch8a.php

Although vitamin supplements are sold for cats and dogs, I challenge you to find a veterinary organization that recommends vitamin C supplements for housecats.

I have two 16 year old housecats that have never had anything but Cat Chow.

[editor-surveyor]

Your post writer is a nitwit.

Her diagnosis must have been accurate, since her treatment was effective.