Page 138 - The Evolution Impasse 2

136 Origins of Bipedalism (Walking Upright)

from the ge net ic ma te ri al of oth er or - walk on four legs.
gan isms. According to the clas si fi ca tions
made in the im ag i nary hu man fam i -
Although the first con cept was for long
fa vored by mi cro bi ol o gists, it is now ly tree, it is claimed that apes clas si -
re gard ed as the least like ly. Because fied under the names
there are such pro found dif fer en ces be - Australopithecus and Homo ha bi lis
tween the two groups that one can not walk ed up right. However, through
be hy poth e sized as the or i gin of the oth - re search in to their fos sil skel e tons in
er. Although the sec ond pos si bil i ty ap - ques tion by a great num ber of sci en -
pears rath er more at tract ive, it al so ap - tists, the in va lid i ty of these claims
pears im pos si ble for the rea sons cit ed
has been re vealed.
above. No in ter me di ate form be tween
The claim of bi ped a lism is one
or gan isms and vi rus es has ev er been
that ev o lu tion ist pa le on tol o gists
found. The last pos si bil i ty ap pears
such as Richard Leakey and Donald
more rea son a ble. 149
Johanson have sup port ed for dec -
As you can see from these com -
ades. Wide-ran ging re search in to
ments, vi rus es do not rep re sent the
Australopithecus spec i mens by two
be gin ning of life. Even ev o lu tion ist
world fa mous anat o mists, Lord
bi ol o gists point the liv ing or gan isms
Solly Zuckerman of Britain and
as the or i gin of vi rus es.
Professor Charles Oxnard of the
USA, showed that these be ings were
not bi ped al, but moved in the same
ORIGINS OF BIPEDALISM
way as present-day apes. Despite be -
(WALKING UPRIGHT)
ing an ev o lu tion ist him self, Lord
Human be ings walk up right on
Zuckerman, who for 15 years ex am -
two legs in a way not en coun tered in
ined the bones of these crea tures
any other life form. (See
with a team con sist ing of five ex -
Bipedalism,) Some oth er an i mals
perts, backed by the British gov ern -
pos sess a lim it ed abil i ty to walk on
ment, con clud ed that
two legs. Mammals such as the bear
Australopithecus was an or di nary
and mon key can move on their hind
spe cies of ape and very def i nite ly
legs for short pe ri ods of time, such 150
did not walk up right.
as when they're reach ing for some -
Professor Oxnard, an oth er ev o lu -
thing to eat). However, they have
tion ist anat o mist well known for his
stooped skel e tons and nor mal ly
re search on this sub ject, com pares
The Evolution Impasse II