I understand AngelThMan's concern: why are we the only species with language and opposable thumbs? scratch the opposable thumbs part. I think that we are the only species with language is a coincidence. Evolutionary biology doesn't say that extremely valuable traits should be found in more than one species on a habitable planet. The question is like asking 'Why don't horses have horns?' answer: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/jan...ities.html
You mentioned something interesting earlier...
IMO, this is bizarre reasoning... I mean if the god you believe in exists (and it's the Christian god, and I'm guessing you're a theistic evolutionist because you don't deny that neanderthals existed), why would your god create (or allow to come into existence via selective pressures and random mutation) a species that he knew would go extinct? If we were 'meant' by a god to be the only species with 'sapient intelligence', why create neanderthals at all?
Quote:Q. All animals I know having hoofs also have horns or antlers. Horses have hoofs. Why don't they have horns or antlers?
Richard Huettl
Mendota Heights
A. The answer has to do with how closely they are related. Hoofed mammals with horns or antlers with bone cores—deer, giraffes, sheep, and other ruminants—belong to the order Artiodactyla, or even-toed ungulates. Ruminants have an even number of toes (two or four) on each foot. Horses belong to a different order—Perissodactyla, or odd-toed ungulates. These mammals have an odd number of toes (one or three) on each foot and do not have horns or antlers with bone cores. Other families of Perissodactyla include rhinoceroses (which have hornlike protuberances on their snouts, not bony-cored horns) and tapirs.
You mentioned something interesting earlier...
Quote:AngelThMan Wrote:
Neanderthals are extinct. Further proof we are the only species meant to have sapient intelligence!
IMO, this is bizarre reasoning... I mean if the god you believe in exists (and it's the Christian god, and I'm guessing you're a theistic evolutionist because you don't deny that neanderthals existed), why would your god create (or allow to come into existence via selective pressures and random mutation) a species that he knew would go extinct? If we were 'meant' by a god to be the only species with 'sapient intelligence', why create neanderthals at all?
