[Texasforever]

Forgive me if this is old hat, but you click on the thumbnails for the bigger picture.

No, I appreciate the links although some are missing. lol. I am in no way qualified to judge whether evolution is by random selection or by intelligent design but I have very basic and probably simplistic questions about the process and do not find the natural selection arguments very satisfying. It is true and obvious that life forms adapt when faced with external pressures to do so but to trans-mutate into an entirely different species requires more proof than a random tooth or an occasional skull fragment. If "man" is the penultimate end product of our evolutionary cycle then why did the cycle branch? A penguin is still a bird even if it can't fly so that begs the question...why is a gorilla not a human?

[VadeRetro]

If "man" is the penultimate end product of our evolutionary cycle then why did the cycle branch?

I was going to say "Question your assumptions" but penultimate means "next to last." It could be you're on the right track at that. Anyway, we're just a way station on a trip to . . . somewhere.

[VadeRetro]

A penguin is still a bird even if it can't fly so that begs the question...why is a gorilla not a human?

Molecular studies show that among the anthropoid apes, the species most different from all the others is the orangutan of Borneo.

[PatrickHenry]

... but to trans-mutate into an entirely different species requires more proof than a random tooth or an occasional skull fragment.

I think you're expecting to see a "Dracula" style transformation. That doesn't exist (if it did, it would be proof that miracles really happen). It takes a very long time, and a large number of generations, for small but cumulative changes to result in some creature's descendants becoming noticeably a different species. And there's considerably more evidence than "a random tooth or an occasional skull fragment." Someone is feeding you some really out-of-date information.

[VadeRetro]

Primates 101.

Traditionally:
FAMILY:Pongidae - Orangutans, Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Bonobos
FAMILY:Hominidae - Humans and human ancestors

Biochemically Speaking:
FAMILY:Pongidae - Orangutans
FAMILY:Hominidae - Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Bonobos, Humans
Relatively recently new evidence, both genetic and fossil, have shown the African apes (this means humans too), to be more similar to each other than to the orangutan of Asia. There are hints of more changes to possibly come in debates over chimpanzees and humans being placed in the same genus. Although, this may be the one we humans are far from ready for, as there are still those unwilling to place humans in the same family as great apes, let alone the same genus.