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Human quadrupeds found in Turkey

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 11:24 am
by rh
Walking on all fours with the ancestors
By Sam Lister

FIVE brothers and sisters who can only walk naturally on all fours are being hailed as a unique insight into human evolution, after being found in a remote corner of rural Turkey.

Scientists believe that the family may provide invaluable information on how Man evolved from a four-legged hominid to develop the ability to walk on two feet more than three million years ago.

A genetic abnormality, which may prevent the siblings, aged 18 to 34, from walking upright, has been identified.
Full story at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 32,00.html

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 11:29 am
by Flyingcursor
And babies live in fluid before they're born so that must mean they evolved from sea creatures.

yada yada yada.

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 11:30 am
by rh
Flyingcursor wrote:And babies live in fluid before they're born so that must mean they evolved from sea creatures.

yada yada yada.
ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, or so they told me in college.

edited to fix typo, which is preserved in tyler's post below

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 11:32 am
by Tyler
rh wrote:
Flyingcursor wrote:And babies live in fluid before they're born so that must mean they evolved from sea creatures.

yada yada yada.
ontogeny recapitualtes phylogeny, or so they told me in college.
Flibbidy-dibbidy. Flobidob blib-blob-bleep, or so they told ME in college! :P

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 11:38 am
by Wombat
I was told that ontology recapitulates philology. But never mind. I have catholic tastes when it comes to recapitulation.

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 11:53 am
by Flyingcursor
rh wrote:
Flyingcursor wrote:And babies live in fluid before they're born so that must mean they evolved from sea creatures.

yada yada yada.
ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, or so they told me in college.

edited to fix typo, which is preserved in tyler's post below
That explains it. Was I ever wrong this time.

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 12:16 pm
by rh
Flyingcursor wrote: That explains it. Was I ever wrong this time.
could be the professor was wrong, too... i did go to school in southern Illinois, after all... :lol:

come to think of it, there might've been some human quadrupeds down there too...

Re: Human quadrupeds found in Turkey

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 1:36 pm
by oleorezinator
rh wrote:
Walking on all fours with the ancestors
By Sam Lister

FIVE brothers and sisters who can only walk naturally on all fours are being hailed as a unique insight into human evolution, after being found in a remote corner of rural Turkey.

Scientists believe that the family may provide invaluable information on how Man evolved from a four-legged hominid to develop the ability to walk on two feet more than three million years ago.

A genetic abnormality, which may prevent the siblings, aged 18 to 34, from walking upright, has been identified.
Full story at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 32,00.html
nothing suprising. they're all over capitol hill and at 1600 pennsylvania ave. but much less highly evolved in washington.

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 1:47 pm
by Jack
Those poor people. They look so ridiculous, but are seen smiling in a few pictures and are described as having "tremendous warmth and humanity" and also as "mentally retarded." Their parents are also apparently both mentally retarded as well.

I've read a bit about them, and these five siblings with this kind of walking have over a dozen other siblings with brain damage of one sort or another, apparently. It makes me sad that there could be a whole family of 20 retarded people, five of whom walk like animals, and nobody noticed until now.

It's quite interesting, though. It reminds me of the family in Mexico (or Honduras?) where a few of the people born into it are completely covered in hair all their lives...

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 2:17 pm
by The Weekenders
After hearing the tabloid reporter floggin' his book, I thought this was a hoax. Guess not...

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 7:02 pm
by Jack
I don't watch movies, but I find myself wanting to watch this BBC documentary. Too bad I don't get BBC or have a television set. :P

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 7:18 pm
by Walden
These people must surely lie somewhere between the lower animals and men, eh?

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 7:19 pm
by SteveShaw
If only they'd told us that ontogeny sort of recapitulates phylogeny. A few months ago I could conceivably have felt a big thread coming on at this point from Wombat and Darwin... :wink:

Most of my teachers at the grammar school I went to had one "clever thing" they liked to come out with. The aforementioned bon mot was the preserve of the biology teacher (to whom we accorded the soubriquet, deservedly, "Jelly Belly"). Our Latin master liked to tell us that "Caesar adsum iam forte...etc." :lol:

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 7:25 pm
by SteveShaw
Tyler Morris wrote:Flibbidy-dibbidy. Flobidob blib-blob-bleep, or so they told ME in college! :P
Hmm.. Sounds to me like you are actually recalling episodes of "Bill and Ben the Flowerpot men," though somewhat imperfectly. :D

Steve

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 7:31 pm
by Nanohedron
Walden wrote:These people must surely lie somewhere between the lower animals and men, eh?
Oh, you.