Re: chimps evolved from hominids?


odin wrote:
> Is there any evidence that chimps evolved from hominids?

Your question as stated is ambiguous. IIRC, by one definition, chimps
*are* hominids. Chimps and humans evolved from common ancestors. Not
sure if this is what you mean, but it's possible that some of the late
common ancestors or early post-split chimp ancestors possessed some
anatomical features that we (rightly or wrongly) associate more with
present and past species on the human branch than with modern chimps.
But until more fossils are found, we won't know for sure. The main
problem is that almost no fossils have been found on the chimp branch,
or on either branch from the time just before and after the split.
Molecular evidence may help in the future, but because genetic matter
is rarely preserved, some answers may forever evade us. Caveat: I'm no
mathematician, so I don't know how much more molecular reconstruction
of the past can be teased out with more genetic samples and better
computer programs.

Bottom line: "evolutionists" are looking for answers, and
anti-evolutionists are just mining quotes and spinning misinformation.
Should a fossil be found on the chimp line with even the slightest
"human" features, anti-evolutionists will fall over each other to spin
it wrongly as "evidence against evolution."

.

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