Gibbon the Opportunity . . .

A recently discovered fossil of a gibbon-like creature is being hailed as a missing chapter in the history of apes, which evolutionists believe split into different lines before humans evolved. But is Pliobates cataloniae, found near Barcelona, really a long-lost cousin of ours?

Evolutionary scientists believe that hominoids—lesser apes and great apes—evolved from a common ancestor. Researchers thought that the common ancestor was more like a great ape because all the earliest undisputed hominoid fossils found so far were large bodied. But the characteristics of this new creature seem to bridge a gap between extinct hominoids and living ones. Its similarities to both great and lesser apes lead researchers to think that the hypothetical common ancestor was more gibbon-like.

Creation scientists are also interested in learning how apes varied as they reproduced and spread out from the Ark in obedience to God’s command to fill the earth. Evidence suggests that they diversified greatly from the few representatives of their kind on the Ark. Yet it seems clear that the greater and lesser apes were separate kinds from the very beginning.

Meanwhile humans stayed behind for many years at Babel, in defiance of God’s command. Genesis makes it clear that humans are separate from apes and that we do not share any ancestors. The search for our great-great-great-grandfather among the greater or lesser apes is a hopeless quest.

livescience.com