Page 167 - The Transitional Form Dilemma

HARUN YAHYA

Eckhardt compared these measurements to ones he had previously
taken from chimpanzees. According to these comparisons, the differ-
ence between the teeth of living chimpanzees was greater than that be-
tween Ramapithecus and Dryopithecus. Eckhardt summed up his
conclusions:
Ramapithecus was once considered to be partially man-like, but is now known
to be fully ape-like. 144
Like Eckhardt, Richard Leakey had his doubts about Ramapithecus.
According to Leakey, it was far too early to come to any definite deci-
sion about Ramapithecus, which consisted of a few jawbones. Leakey
summarized his thoughts in these words: “The case for Ramapithecus as
a hominid is not substantial, and the fragmentary material leaves many
questions open.” 145
Unlike the U shape in monkeys, the structure of the human jaw is
parabolic (more V-shaped), in such a way as to permit speech, and this
had been known for a long time. It was thought that Ramapithecus pos-
sessed a parabolic jaw like that of humans.
But the reconstructions made by Elwyn Simons in 1961, based on a
piece of the Ramapithecus lower jaw and code-numbered YPM 13799,
showed a totally parabolic structure in all teeth except for the incisors.
That reconstruction was accepted by a
number of authors and used in vari-
ous studies. In 1969, however, Genet
and Varcin showed that using the
exact same fragments, different recon-
structions could also be made with a U
shape just like that in monkeys..
Furthermore, many living species of
monkey possess the same characteris-
tics as Ramapithecus. One baboon
(Theropithecus galada) living at high
elevations in Ethiopia is short, with a

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