Another evolution question?

Question

Is the ability to climb trees living proof of our evolutionary roots?

Just an observation!

Answer 1

Maybe there's something to that. Little boys seem to have a great -need- to climb trees.  Kids fight over the top bunk of bunk beds.  And grown-ups like SUVs because they sit up high and look out over the tops of other cars, and this makes them feel safer.

Answer 2

our ability climb trees is pretty poor compared to chimps and orangantans etc...  

I'd say the best proof of our evolutionary roots is not climbing trees but the fact our DNA and that of the primates is so extremely similar compared to that of canines, felines and other mammals.  

Answer 3

I agree with Eri, this is not exactly an Astronomy question but since you asked ...

I think that if God created the universe without the help of evolution, he must be quite of a joker because everything is so much in favour of it. Take for example DNA. This is how we can trace who's descending from who. If not natural, why God has made it look so then?

Another favourite argument from the Intelligent Designer supporters is that an eye can't just pop up from the skin without a purpose. Well, if you think of it, it is not difficult to think that very primitive forms of life develop a sensitivity to solar energy since that's where they get their energy from. Now, that those cells that are sensitive to sunlight develop further to 'see' more and more seems to most scientists like very normal.

Of course, if you like cognitive disonnance, you may seek only one type of information and think that all forms of science are after you. But then ... that's another problem.

Answer 4

No. Eri got it right. Climbing trees is relatively simple and it would take a lot of evolutionary change to get a previously arboreal species to lose it.

Some better proof would be the appendix. We don't need it, it even can cause nasty infections, and was most likely part of the extensive digestive system required by our ancestors to process tough plant material. That and the genetic code for a tail. Mankind does not have a need for a tail yet the genetic code for creating one is still there. That is why every once in awhile a person is born where those genes are randomly activated giving them a small tail.

Answer 5

No, that alone wouldn't be proof of anything.  But it is a skill shared by our closely-related species.  And some not very closely related.

Why is this in the Astronomy section?

Answer 6

Hmmmmm.... not really.  Snakes can climb trees, but they don't have very many of the characteristics or body structures we have; the ability to do one thing may have evolved from developing the ability to accomplish something else.