Do similiarities between creatures mean that they had a common ancestor (Evolved). Could this not also mean they had a common designer?

The figure you quoted here 99% is pushing the limits even further. The figure is actually becoming closer to 95%, but other figures vary depending on who is telling the story (e.g. 97% - 98.5%). So does this mean that far from advanced we are only "slightly evolved" apes if you consider that is really not a big difference? In that case, we haven't come far at all and I wonder how on earth we are managing to sit here typing on a computer having this discussion....could it mean that the few percent actually makes a significant difference?

How do you then explain this. If humans had to be so vastly different to all other livings creatures in order for one to reconsider the connection with apes, then what would we eat? How would we live?

I can assure you, no ape is reading this ....(or maybe you beg to differ) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

In the animal Kingdom the ape is the obvious choice to compare to a human being based on them being the closest one could pick in respect to appearance and how they interact etc, but it seems the differences are overlooked.

Even the dumbest human being is set apart from the brightest chimps. Our brains are twice as big. Apes have no creative, cumulative aptitude for expressive and intelligent speech. They have no ability to remember, develop and use language apart from being taught (ad nauseum) to make noises for rewards, that they attempt to get as close to a "word" as they can (I've seen people teach their dogs to bark in a way that can sound like a voice). Human language aptitude are unlimited. We have a special section for speech which is completely lacking in monekys/apes' brains.

Actually dogs, pigs, budgies/parrots, dolphins are often suggested as being brainier than apes! I would not dispute that actually. Parrots at least have capacity for imitating speech amazingly well and some go even further than that by learning how to answer questions with meaning and understanding.

Look at an apes nose. Where is the bridge? Look at the texture of their skin, the nostrils.

Also their hair does keep growing, so it never needs a cut like ours. It thickly covers their whole body and helps them keep warm. Humans need clothes even in relatively mild climates.

Apes do not have a voice box. They can't talk at all. Humans can swallow and breathe at the sametime because we have this.

Female chimps only have breasts when they are nursing and the males have bones in their penises.

They have feet like hands (actually they have two sets of hands) so they can swing and grip to trees easily and very long strong arms. Humans are made for walking upright, not swinging from trees. Our toes are for balancing, rather than gripping. Because the ape has four hands it walks in a weird sideways movement. Fossilised foot prints of apes cannot be mistaken for ours. Man's fossilised foot prints have been found in rock layers with the dinosaurs and the earliest fossils. Scientists from the University of Montana found T.Rex bones, unearthed in 1990 that were not totally fossiised and were able to isolate blood cells and haemoglobin from deep in the leg bone. This means that the age of the bones could only be a few thousand years old not millions as required by the evolution scenario.

The thumbs and fingers allow us to perform detailed tasks vastly beyond the ape, which has very limited and the thumb is very short matching a limited brain.

Chimps may have 95 - 99% of the same DNA as humans, but they have 24 pairs of chromosomes, we have 23. 18 of the pairs are pretty much identical, but the rest have a different organization with large chunks of DNA in different positions verifying a unique instructional code.

The skull of a human being is distinct in proportion and capacity and sets it apart in the fossil record.

It's one thing to attempt to focus on the similarities, but you dont see the differences mentioned.

Linda, the loch Ness monster is only one of many accounts of sighting of dinosaurs. I cannot imagine these creatures would have the capacity to survive in most environments anyway. The most common sightings are in the places of the most extreme humidity and swamps. The sightings have been in areas not overly frequented by people.

Egan, re abortion. I have zero time or respect for someone pro baby murder. Bottom line is - Its called basic human rights. Religion does not even have to come into it. You're spitting alot of virtual venom all over the fact that someone is standing up for the unborn child's right to live. How does this make me a bigot? And it's not the Mother's body by the way, it's the baby's body that gets aborted..... Colour it anyway you want, it's the taking of a life. What is this talk about man having no right to force his views on women? Who said anything about a man forcing this view on women? Women and men are on both sides of this issue for and against. ..ever considered the baby in this at all? What right does anybody have to impose murder on the unborn?