January 2016: Another so-called "Ape-man" Bites the Dust...

The first bone fragments of the ape-like creature “Ardi” were discovered in 1992. Nearly twenty years later a substantial number of bone fragments were finally pieced together, resulting in published papers and a surge of popular press articles proclaimed to the world that ‘Ardi’ (the extinct species Ardipithecus ramidus) is one more amazing proof of human evolution. Today, Ardi is promoted throughout education systems and the media as the “oldest known” ancestor to man, evolving soon after the human/chimpanzee lineage allegedly diverged 6-10 million years ago. But as is typical in the field of paleoanthropology, big headlines are often followed by heavy criticisms from other experts in the field. Unfortunately these scientific rebuttals from other experts in the field typically receive little or no attention from the media. As with the famous fossil named “Lucy”, most people have not heard the evidence against ‘Ardi’ being an ape/human transitional form. While textbooks and the media generally show a one-sided view of Ardipithecus ramidus as an undisputed hominin ancestor to man, leading experts in the field have challenged every major claim made by the Ardi research team. Point-by-point refutations have been reported in the peer-reviewed scientific literature from numerous world authorities on human evolution. The actual evidence indicates that Ardi is not our ancestor. Ardi appears to have been nothing more than an extinct, quadruped ape (walking on all fours with palms flat on the ground like Baboons). The Ardi species appears to have made use of both terrestrial and arboreal settings – just as in seen in living apes today.