Evolution vs Creationism
Evolution
I was raised in a Creationist family, meaning the concept of evolution and humans evolving from primates was considered not only ludicrous but in my family blasphemous. Because my parents believed so strongly in the Creationist theory, they did not send us to public school and instead chose to teach us themselves. Let’s just say much of my education was sorely lacking. The concept of evolution and even that of dinosaurs was explained away in this manner:
Scientists found large, random bones of deceased animals and just pieced them together how they saw fit to make bizarre animals and thus prove their theories and that the planet was only six or so thousand years old, as detailed out by the history in the Bible. Yes, the Bible was fact in my family and science was the fairytale. Humans did not evolve from apes, and the proof was that there were no half human half apes walking out of the forest, therefore evolution was fiction, just made up by sinners who wanted to denounce God made everything as described in Genesis. Another favorite thing for my mother to pull out to prove that God was the creator of all things in their current forms was to say that on Darwin’s deathbed he denounced his theory of evolution, repented and accepted Christ into his heart.
Now, with that as my early education, you can understand why I chose to take this class. I am not one to argue with fact, with the detailed, meticulous and long years scientists have devoted to discovering the history of the planet on which we stand. This does not change my belief in God, or in the belief that He did indeed create everything. It only further astounds me at the complex perfection of His Creation. That the balance required to create life is so perfect and that evolution is a complex and delicate process that takes thousands of generations to bring the human race to where it is today.
Environment leading to Evolution
On Page 206 of Essentials of Physical Anthropology by Clark Spencer Larsen the text describes how the Fayum region of Northeast Africa as being a lush and tropical location much like Southeast Asia is today. An environment prime for the growth and evolution of many primitive primate species, most notably some higher primate species, the oligopithecids, parapithecids and propliopithecids. Anthropologists have found a large amount of the Oligocene primate fossils concentrated in this area, which in our modern world is a harsh and arid desert, devoid of the life it once hosted. The environment is a key ingredient to encouraging the evolution or extinction of any species, those most able to adapt, survive and pass on their genes, furthering the survival of any particular mutation, thus leading to evolution. Animals that once existed in the Fayum region are now extinct, because the environment shifted, becoming what it is today. This of course raises the question of what the face of the planet will look like in a few thousand years, will the desert of the Fayum once more be the lush tropics it was, or will it become something even more different? Kind of makes one wish for HG Wells’ time machine.
Comment
Like Lorena stated the Adapid and the Omomyids were the first true Euprimates. These creatures thrived due to the rapid temperature increase of a significant period of Global Warming that changed the face of the world. It gave rise to tropical environments all over the world which in turn changed the form of foods available for animals to consume. Therefore animals with more attributes suited to this new environment thrived and gave rise to the modern appearing primates and caused the extinction of the less well adapted plesiadapiforms. In a world with more tropical environments, the Euprimates were more adequately suited with their grasping hands and feet, were able to become more arboreal, there was also an expansion in the brain size and the eye orbits as well.