[CottShop]

An image accompanying a different Ardi report also looks suspicious. It shows a human, Lucy, Ardi, two chimps, a gorilla, and an orangutan side-by-side,5 arbitrarily arranged to reflect an imagined evolutionary line of descent. (See image by clicking here.) They are all shown as having the same height, an obvious inaccuracy since Ardi was only four feet tall and Lucy was even shorter. Was there specific intent to de-emphasize known height differences in order to make human evolution more palatable?

In America’s picture-driven culture, it is unfortunate to think that these images will form for many their major perception of this extinct primate. And it is most unfortunate that these images have been rendered to support the contention that Ardi is a human ancestor, when the scientific evidence really shows that Ardi was little more than a now-extinct four-foot-tall tree-dwelling primate.6

[CottShop]

[[Was there specific intent to de-emphasize known height differences in order to make human evolution more palatable?]]

Oh heck no! They would never, ever, use such deceptive means- oh wait- yeah they would and constantly do- never mind- carry on

[count-your-change]

The silence is notable on why and how a primate living suitably in the trees would evolve feet that were less suitable for all purposes. Attributing behavior to a composite creature on the basis of a few fragments of bone is a perfect example of the just so story.

Looking at the back bone of Ardi....Wait...Ardi has no backbone.. the Artist, also known as The Illustrator, made a guess based upon modern bones (I seem to recall his saying human bones), so who knows just how tall the old gal was?