Page 124 - The Transitional Form Dilemma

THE TRANSITIONAL-FORM DILEMMA

Developmental patterns were also more ape-like than human. Whether they
were phylogenetically hominines or not, it seems to me that ecologically they
may still be considered as apes. 96
Professor Charles E. Oxnard also accepts that Australopithecines
cannot represent a transitional form and are not human-like, but rather
constitute a unique group:
In each case although initial studies suggest that the fossils are similar to hu-
mans, or at the worst intermediate between humans and African apes, study of
the complete fossils clearly differ more from both humans and African apes,
than do these two living groups from each other. The australopithecines are
unique. 97

That Australopithecus cannot be regarded as an ancestor of man is
also accepted by the well-known French magazine Science et Vie and
other similar publications. The magazine took the subject as the cover
story of its May 1999 edition, which dealt with Lucy, regarded as the
most important fossil specimen of the species Australopithecus afarensis.
Under the headline “Adieu Lucy” (“Farewell, Lucy”), the article stated
that the Australopithecus apes were not the ancestors of humans and
needed to be removed from the human evolutionary tree. 98
One final discovery revealing the in-
validity of the thesis that Australopithecus

walked on two legs was encountered in
the Bwindi jungle in Uganda. The
University of Liverpool researcher
Robin Crompton discovered that
chimpanzees here walk on two legs.
In a report in the newspaper The
Scotsman under the caption

“Chimps on Two Legs Run
Through Darwin’s Theory,”
Crompton comments that : “This
is contrary to the accepted idea

122