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post77401.htmlRegardless of the chicken/egg discussion there, there is a statement to be addressed about evolution in the above.
Warning. Here come da science.Evolution and Creation are not competing theories any more than Chemistry and Alchemy are competing theories. One is absolute bogus magical thinking and the other is the scientific study and report of objective observed data.
Creation is not the alternative to Evolution. It is an assertion without evidence in a vain attempt to keep an out-dated mode of thought relevant by surrounding it with quasi-scientific jargon in a hope to impress the un-informed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_taxonomyHere is why humans are primates.
Very simply, if you follow our taxonomic classifications it not only describes our morphology, biology, and reproductive strategy, it also describes the exact process of our evolutionary past.
Notice that humans fit into the descriptive characteristics of each of these divisions and advancement down the chain of daughter sets is an additional characteristic which defines us and separates our species from other organisms which do not share our evolutionary heritage but also these classifications INCLUDE all animals which DO share those characteristics up to that point making them our evolutionary relatives.
When you see a word on this list such as “Craniata”, that does not mean that we simply evolved FROM this category, it also means that we still are intrinsically a part of that group. That is, we still are organisms with a brain enclosed in a skull. That goes the same for every single item on this list, and likewise for any other organism which shares these characteristics with us.
NOTE: Clade is the label given to some taxomonic groupings.
Humans are:
Biota [all life on Earth, including precellular life]
Humans are aliveClade - Cytota [all cellular life; LUCA, Prokarya, Bacteria]
Humans are cellular organisms. Putting us in the same group as all cellular life on the planet
Clade - Neomura [like Archaea, also included, oldest neomura, common ancestor with them]
A differentiation of cell walls. Ours are composed of glycoproteins, rather than peptidoglycan.
Domain - Eukarya [like Bikonta, also included, oldest eukaryotes, common
ancestor with them; cellular nucleus; first eukaryotic multicellular organisms; plants]
Humans' cells are nucleicClade - Unikonta [only one flagellum,
think sperm cell; like Amoebozoa, also included, common ancestor with them]
Clade - Opisthokonts [like Fungi, also included, oldest opisthokonts, common ancestor with them]
Indicating the use of a posterior flagellum.
Clade – Holozoa
Here we exclude fungus.
Clade – Filozoa
Animals and nearest single celled relatives.
Kingdom - Animalia/Metazoa
Surprise, humans are animals.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetazoaWe must ingest other organisms to survive, we go through changes in our life cycle, and we are mobile.
Subkingdom - Eumetazoa [remotest origin of animal motility]
We have differentiated tissue. IE: lung tissue is for breathing, muscle is for moving.Clade - Bilateria [having bilateral symmetry]
We share this trait with all animals which are bilaterally symmetrical.
Remember that this is a continuous description of the human animal, and also mirrors our evolutionary path. These are the steps that were taken in our long evolutionary path from single celled organism to Homo Sapien.Superphylum - Deuterostomia [
forms the anus before the mouth in early development of the digestive system.Phylum - Chordata
We have spinal cords
Clade - Craniata [animals with skulls]
Humans have skulls.
Subphylum - Vertebrata
[...and backbones]
Infraphylum - Gnathostomata
[...and jaws]from here we go either cartilage down to sharks or calcified bone which leads to land animals.
Superclass – Osteichthyes
We have bony skeletons.
Class - Sarcopterygii [Includes lobe-finned fish and all land vertebrates.]
Outcroppings of the body which will later evolve into limbs.
Infraclass - Tetrapodamorpha
Superclass - Tetrapoda [...and four limbs for terrestrial locomotion]
Clade - Amniota [...and amniotic eggs ("terrestrial" eggs)]
now we are described as having four limbs and the development of the amnion which allows for dry land birth. this puts us in common with all animals with four limbs who give birth on land. All animals with these characteristics share a common heritage with us to this point.
Subclass - Synapsida
having to do with the temporal fenestra in the skull. (The soft spot on your temple where your jaw muscle runs up the side of your head.) Reptiles are anapsid (no fenestra) or diapsid(two temporal fenestra). They diverge from us here.
Order – Therapsida
Larger fenestrae than other types, jaws more complex.Clade – Theriodontia
Differentiation of teeth, incisors and molars.
Suborder - Cynodontia
here we see the development of the canine tooth Clade - Epicynodontia
Infraorder – Eucynodontia
Speaks further of our tooth structure.
Clade - Probainognathia
Clade – Chiniquodontoidea
Gaining mammalian cheracteristics.
Clade - Mamaliamorpha
Clade – Mammaliaformes
“mammal shaped”
Class - Mammalia [all mammals]
are a class of vertebrate, air-breathing animals whose females are characterized by the possession of mammary glands while both males and females are characterized by hair and/or fur, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in the brain. Some mammals have sweat glands, but most do not. Subclass – Theriiformes
We give birth to live young without the aid of a shelled egg.
Infraclass - Holotheria
Superlegion – Trechnotheria
one of most prominent features of this group is the "hypertrophied postvallum/prevallid shearing mechanism. Its how your incisors work.
Legion - Cladotheria
Sublegion - Zatheria
Infralegion – Tribosphenida
These include the groups of ancestors leading to us with varying changes in morphology.Supercohort - Theria
Cohort - Eutheria
we diverge from marsupials here, as eutherians have placental birth.
Magnorder – Boreoeutheria
External testicles. Enter the ball-sack.
Superorder - Euarchontoglires
Grandorder - Euarchonta
Epiorder – Primatomorpha
Pairing down animals which share less and less with primates until we get to:
Order - Primates [arboreal prehensile locomotion; terrestrial bipedal leaping in some cases; Strepsirrhini, Prosimians, also included, oldest living primates, common ancestor with them]
Primates are:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PrimatesHumans are, literally… by definition, primates.
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