Piltdown Man (Eoanthropus dawsoni) was a proposed series of extinct hominid, providing the 'missing link' in the evolutionary chain between apes and modern man. The remains were 'discovered' by Charles Dawson between 1910 and 1912 and taken to the British museum. In 1953 it was discovered that the fossils had been faked, the jaw bone discovered being that of a modern ape which had been stained to appear to be a fossil, and in 2003 it was discovered that Charles Dawson was the perpetrator of the fraud - other 'fossils' which he had stained with intent to deceive having been discovered - which he did for financial benefit, and to progress his career so that he might join the Royal Society. Research Piltdown Man
The Barbary Ape (Inuus ecaudatus or Macaca sylvanus) is a monkey (and not an ape) native to north Africa, and kept artificially on Gibraltar. They have greenish-brown hair, are about the size of a large cat, and are remarkable for their docility. The Barbary Ape is common in Barbary and other parts of Africa. They are social animals, cantering a large part of their social life around the young, most of whom are born in the summer. It has been the 'showman's ape' from time immemorial. Research Barbary Ape
A gibbon is a type of small ape of the genus Hylobates, particularly the species Hylobates lar which inhabits the islands of the Indian Archipelago. It is noticeable by the extraordinary length of its arms and its slender form. Research Gibbon
The gorilla (Troglodytes Gorilla) is the largest anthropoid ape attaining a height of about 5.5 feet and is found in west Africa. Although a gentle and vegetarian animal, myths prevailed from the mid- 19th century until the mid-20th century of it attacking and eating the natives.
The erect position is more readily assumed by the gorilla than by most of the other anthropoid apes, owing to the shape of the sole of the foot, which is not inverted, and is shorter and broader;
but the ordinary gait is on all-fours. It has a ferocious-looking cast of features, due to the prognathism of the jaws, the extremely prominent supra-orbital ridges, and retreating forehead. Gorillas make a sleeping-place somewhat like a hammock, connecting the branches of a tree by means of the long, tough, slender stems of climbing plants, and lining it with dried fronds of palms or long grass. This abode is constructed at different heights from the ground, but there is never more than one such nest in a tree. The gorilla, like the chimpanzee, has thirteen ribs, whereas man and the orang have twelve. The gorilla and chimpanzee also have eight bones in the carpus or wrist, while the others have nine. The bones of the arm are much longer than in man, and the upper arm is longer than the forearm; the leg bones are shorter than in man. In the proportion of its molar teeth to the incisors and in the form of its pelvis it approaches somewhat closely the human form. The Phoenician navigator Hanno found the name in use in the 5th century BC in West Africa. Research Gorilla
The orang utan (Simia satyrus) is an anthropoid ape found only in Borneo and Sumatra, where its popular name means 'man of the woods'. The orang utan has very long arms, which reach to the ankle when the animal stands upright, and short, thick, twisted legs with a feebly developed calf, and narrow flat heels. The hair is very long, and is reddish orange in colour. The skull is without the prominent superciliary ridges of the gorilla, and is produced at the vertex, so as to give the animal the appearance of possessing a much elongated forehead. The central bone of the carpus, absent in man, the chimpanzee and the gorilla, is present in the orang utan. The great toe is very small and devoid of a nail in the adult, and is often devoid of its terminal phalanx. The orang utan lives in thick forests and is adapted for arboreal life, living mainly on fruit but also leaves, buds and young shoots. The animals live in small family groups and build shelters high in the trees which they move between by careful and deliberate swinging by the arms,
never leaping or jumping. Research Orang Utan
The Sulawesi Crested Macaque (Macaca nigra) is an endangered species of monkey of the large Macaca genus that also includes the Rhesus Monkey and the Barbary Ape, found only in the tropical rainforests of Sulawesi where it is active during the day, living mainly in the trees but coming to ground in order to travel longer distances. The Sulawesi Crested Macaque is black in colour, with a prominent pink or red coloured bottom which in the female becomes brighter and more swollen as a signal to the male that she is ready to mate, no tail and a stiff crest of hair on the head. The Sulawesi Crested Macaque lives in troops of several dozen animals including numerous adult males. The troop have a social structure, with a dominant older male in charge and mating with the females. Research Sulawesi Crested Macaque More pictures of Sulawesi Crested Macaque
Bo Derek (real name Mary Cathleen Collins) is an American actress and glamour model. She was born in 1956 at Long Beach, California. Bo Derek became famous after appearing as the sultry, sexy Jenny Hanley in the 1979 comedy 10. Bo Derek is less renowned for her acting ability - she was awarded the title worse actress for her role in the 1981 film Tarzan the Ape Man - than for her willingness to undress for the camera. This willingness to undress (including being photographed for Playboy magazine) led to her being a favourite pin-up of the 1980's. Research Bo Derek More pictures of Bo Derek
Evolution, literally the act of unrolling or unfolding, is a term used in science and philosophy to indicate the development of an organism or organic entity towards greater differentiation of organs and functions, and, therefore, to a more complex and higher state of being. Thus, in astronomy, the nebular hypothesis, which regards the planetary bodies as evolved from nebular or gaseous matter, is an example of evolution. In geology, also, the old view which considered the animal and vegetable life of each geological period as a new and separate organic creation, has given place to the evolutionary theory of a process of development from earlier types to those of the later periods. But the evolution of the more complex from the more simple organisms does not necessarily, probably never does, exhibit a linear series of advances; thus of the protoplasm which represents the first stage of an animal's existence, part is set aside for one tissue, part for another; in the same way, on the theory of the origin of certain animal or vegetable forms from a common stock, some members of a group have manifested such modifications as render them permanently unlike their kindred of whom some may retain for a longer or shorter time their original characters, while others become specialized in other directions.
Evolution is a law whose operation is traceable throughout every department of nature. It may be equally well illustrated from the history of philosophy or the arts, or from the historical development of society. But it is in connection with the evolutionary theory of the origin of species that the principle of evolution has been most discussed, affirming, as it does, that all forms of life both in the animal and vegetable kingdom have been developed by continuous differentiation of organs and modifications of parts from one low form of life consisting of a minute cell. The steps by which this process has been accomplished and the causes which have been mainly at work in it form a department of research to which many notable scientists - Lamarck, St Hilaire, Meckel, Haeckel, Spencer, Darwin, Wallace, and others have contributed.
One of the greatest contributions to the theory of evolution in nature was the work of Charles Darwin (published in his book On the Origin of Species), in which he produced some of the strongest evidence in favour of evolution as an endless progression evolving higher species, genera, families, orders, classes, the infinitely varied forms being each adapted to the circumstances by which it is surrounded. A theory which over 100 years later and despite irrefutable evidence is condemned by Christian fundamentalists as blasphemy, arguing instead that the notion of evolution is at odds with the biblical theory of creation (creationism), the fundamentalists taking offence at the concept of man as a higher form of ape which has developed over millennia, rather than being created as a perfect form by a supernatural deity. Research Evolution
Abbreviations
Research Piltdown Man
