Page 667 - Atlas of Creation Volume 2

Harun Yahya

evolutionary process as evolutionists propose. The fossils, which evolutionists claim to be the ancestors of
humans, in fact belong either to different human races, or else to species of ape.
Then which fossils are human and which ones are apes? Why is it impossible for any one of them to be
considered a transitional form? In order to find the answers, let us have a closer look at each category.

Australopithecus

The first category, the genus Australopithecus, means "southern ape," as we
have said. It is assumed that these creatures first appeared in Africa about 4
million years ago, and lived until 1 million years ago. There
are a number of different species among the australop-
ithecines. Evolutionists assume that the oldest Australopithecus

Australopithecus species is A. afarensis. After that comes A. skulls and skeletons
closely resemble
africanus, and then A. robustus, which has relatively bigger
those of present-day
bones. As for A. Boisei, some researchers accept it as a dif- apes. The drawing to
ferent species, and others as a sub-species of A. Robustus. the side shows a
All of the Australopithecus species are extinct apes that chimpanzee on the
left, and an
resemble the apes of today. Their cranial capacities are the
Australopithecus
same or smaller than the chimpanzees of our day. There are afarensis skeleton on
projecting parts in their hands and feet which they used to the right. Adrienne L.
climb trees, just like today's chimpanzees, and their feet are Zhilman, the profes-
sor of anatomy who
built for grasping to hold onto branches. Many other char-
did the drawing,
acteristics—such as the details in their skulls, the closeness stresses that the
of their eyes, their sharp molar teeth, their mandibular structures of the two
structure, their long arms, and their short legs—constitute skeletons are very
similar.
evidence that these creatures were no different from today's
ape. However, evolutionists claim that, although australop-
ithecines have the anatomy of apes, unlike apes, they

walked upright like humans.
This claim that australopithecines walked upright is a
view that has been held by paleoanthropologists such as
Richard Leakey and Donald C. Johanson for decades. Yet many scien-
tists who have carried out a great deal of research on the skeletal

structures of australopithecines have proved the invalidity of
that argument. Extensive research done on various
Australopithecus specimens by two world-renowned
anatomists from England and the USA, Lord Solly
Zuckerman and Prof. Charles Oxnard, showed that these
creatures did not walk upright in human manner.

Having studied the bones of these fossils for a pe-
riod of 15 years thanks to grants from the British
government, Lord Zuckerman and his team of five
specialists reached the conclusion that australopithecines
were only an ordinary species of ape, and were definitely not

bipedal, although Zuckerman is an evolutionist himself. 150 An
Correspondingly, Charles E. Oxnard, who is another evo- Australopithecus
lutionary anatomist famous for his research on the sub- robustus skull. It
bears a close re-
ject, also likened the skeletal structure of
semblance to
australopithecines to that of orangutans of today. 151 that of apes of
That Australopithecus cannot be counted an ances- our day.

tor of man has recently been accepted by evolutionist

Adnan Oktar 665