Natural Science Forum / Biology / Paleontology / November 2006

--- quoting from Wikipedia on Oreopithecus with my comments
interspersed ---

Oreopithecus bambolii

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?Swamp Ape
Fossil range: Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Oreopithecidae?
Genus: Oreopithecus
Species: O. bambolii
Binomial name
Oreopithecus bambolii
Gervais, 1872

The Swamp Ape (Oreopithecus bambolii) is a prehistoric primate species
from the Miocene epoch whose fossils have been found in Italy (Tuscany
and Sardinia) and in East Africa. To date, over 50 individuals have
been discovered from the Tuscan mines of Monte Bamboli, Baccinello,
Montemassi, Casteani, and Ribolla, making Oreopithecus one of the
best-represented fossil apes.

A.P.: I do not know why so many fossils of this primate were found. Is
it because they lived near swamps and swamps were the best place to
become fossilized??? Well fortunate for anthropologists to have a huge
supply of fossils because I have the suspicion that Oreopithecus was
our earliest ancestor who lived from about 12 to 8 million years ago
and whose next descendent was Orrorin. I suspect the line to human
evolution goes from Oreopithecus to Orrorin and then directly to
Humanity.

Oreopithecus bambolii is estimated to have weighed 30-35 kg. It
possessed a relatively short snout, elevated nasal bones, small and
globular neurocranium, vertical orbital plane, and gracile facial
bones. The shearing crests on its molars suggest a diet specializing in
plant leaves. The very robust lower face, with a large attachment
surface

A.P.: I wonder if anyone has given us a 3-dimensional model of what
this species looked like.

for the masseter muscle and a sagittal crest for attachment of the
temporal muscle, indicates a heavy masticatory apparatus. Its teeth
were small relative to body size. The lack of a diastema (gap) between
the second incisor and first premolar of the mandible indicates that
Oreopithecus had canines of size comparable to the rest of its
dentition. In many primates, small canines correlate with reduced
inter-male competition for access to mates and less sexual dimorphism.

A.P.: When a species makes Rockthrowing and Stonethrowing their primary
way of living, then canines will not be evolved but rather instead the
arms, hands and other bones for Throwing better. Evolution has to spend
alot of energy in changing bone structure of the hands and arms for
throwing and it does not have extra energy for changes elsewhere. What
I call a Budget Allowance of Evolution.

Its habitat appears to have been swampy, and not savanna or forest. The
postcranial anatomy of Oreopithecus features adaptations to both
suspensory arborealism and bipedalism. Functional traits related to
suspensory locomotion include its broad thorax, short trunk, high
intermembral index, long and slender digits, and extensive mobility in
virtually all joints. At the same time, it also features adaptations to
upright walking such

A.P.: The phrase "extensive mobility in virtually all joints" is most
important. Now I wonder if many hand and finger bones are available
from Oreopithecus, and whether anyone has mapped the evolution of the
wrist joint for the wrist to bend 90 degrees. Humanity has a 90 degree
bend but chimps, orangutans, gorillas and monkeys do not have this 90
degree bend for they are knuckle walkers. So if Oreopithecus was not a
knucklewalker but a palmwalker further implies Oreopithecus was a
rudimentary biped. But most important of all, is that the 90 degree
bend is essential and necessary to be an efficient and proficient
Thrower of rocks and stones. So this wrist joint is the unique
fingerprint or signature of a primate who Throws for a living and who
will become humanity.

as the presence of a lumbar curve, in distinction to otherwise similar
species known from the same period. Since the fossils have been dated
to about 8 million years ago, this represents an unusually early
appearance of upright posture. How adapted it was for bipedal walking
is not known, but its fingers and arms also seems to show adaptations
for climbing and swinging.

Another piece of evidence lies in the semicircular canals of the inner
ear. The semicircular canal serves as a sense organ for balance and
controls the reflex for gaze stabilization. The inner ear has three
canals on each side of the head, and each of the six canals encloses a
membranous duct that forms an endolymph-filled circuit. Hair cells in
the duct's ampulla pick up endolymph disturbances caused by movement,
which register as rotatory head movement. They respond to body sway of
frequencies greater than 0.1 Hz and trigger the vestibulocollic (neck)
reflex and vestibuloocular (eye) reflex to recover balance and gaze
stability. The bony semicircular canals allow estimates of duct arc
length and orientation with respect to the sagittal plane.

During upright walking, human head rotation frequencies range between
2-8 Hz along the sagittal and coronal planes and between 1-3 Hz along
the horizontal plane. Across species, the semicircular canals of agile
animals have larger arcs than those of slower ones. For example, the
rapid leaper Tarsius bancamus has semicircular canals much bigger than
the slow-climbing Nycticebus coucang. The semicircular canals of
brachiating gibbons are bigger than those of arboreal and terrestrial
quadrupedal great apes. As a rule of thumb, arc size of the ducts
decreases with body mass and consequently slower angular head motions.
Arc size increases with greater agility and thus more rapid head
motions. Modern humans have bigger arcs on their anterior and posterior
canals, which reflect greater angular motion along the sagittal plane.
The lateral canal has a smaller arc size, corresponding to reduced head
movement from side to side.

Allometric measurements on the bony labyrinth of BAC-208, a fragmentary
cranium that preserves a complete, undeformed petrosal bone suggest
that Oreopithecus moved with agility comparable to extant great apes.
Its anterior and lateral semicircular canal sizes fall within the range
for great apes. Its relatively large posterior arc implies that
Oreopithecus was more proficient at stabilizing angular head motion
along the sagittal plane.

A.P.: Now I do not know what to make of these above paragraphs on the
ear canal. I am puzzled that fossils would have such enormous detail.
Or, it is possible that Wikipedia, since it is a "freely edited
encyclopedia" has a touch of vandalism and that the above is utter
bogus. But assuming that the above is genuine, then perhaps a new case
study in support and favor of Rockthrowing and Stonethrowing theory is
in the works. In that fossilized inner ear would prove the
Stonethrowing theory beyond doubt. For if the inner ear of Oreopithecus
is more advanced than the inner ear of modern chimps would connect
Oreopithecus directly to a long line of evolution that leads directly
to Homo sapiens. To throw accurately would require a gyroscopic like
balance and the inner ear is what provides Throwers with the balance
mechanism. Balance in throwing would later contribute to balance in
bipedalism.

Some have suggested the unique locomotory behavior of Oreopithecus
requires a revision of the current consensus on the timing of
bipedality in human developmental history, but there is little
agreement on this point among paleontologists. Among other things, its
foot was birdlike and had an anatomy different from the early bipedal
human ancestors.

A.P.: Some have said Oreopithecus had birdlike feet or hoofed feet. I
suspect this is charlatan reports by haters of Oreopithecus who have
found say a hoof from a hoofed animal embedded in the fossil bed where
Oreo was found and then mistakenly or fraudulently assigned as Oreo's
foot. On the other hand, if it is true that Oreo had a hoofed like foot
would only strengthen the Stonethrowing theory in that the Throwing
bones of arms and hands were fast forwarded -evolution whereas the
bipedalism bones were barely moving forward.

It evolved in isolation from other animals for at least two million
years on an island in the Mediterranean where Tuscany in Italy is found
today. A cooling phase around 9 million years ago transformed a
tropical island into a temperate one characteristic of middle European
biomes at the time. There were no large predators on the island and the
apes didn't have any natural enemies. Later, probably during the ice
age when the sea level dropped all over the world, a land bridge
emerged and connected the island with the mainland. New species, among
them large predators, were then free to invade this isolated
environment where animals like the Swamp Ape were easy prey. Soon this
strange primate, as well as other creatures on the island, was gone
forever; a parallel to what happened when the land bridge between North
America and South America joined the two continents.

A.P.: I do not know what to think about the above scenario if true. Did
the first Rockthrowers and Stonethrowers need such a isolated and
protected environment to develop Throwing to the point where they could
make a living off of just simply throwing? I do not know. Perhaps an
isolated environment accelerated the Throwing adaptation and where
Throwing could not have had that focal point of accelerated evolution
if apes in Africa of 12 to 8 million years ago started to throw. But
what is clear is that once Throwing was advanced by Oreopithecus, that
the best environment to further advance throwing was the plains of
Africa with its huge concentration of herd animals and plenty of rocks
laying around and open sight. So Oreopithecus was the first Throwing
for a Living primate who became Orrorin and would eventually become
Humanity. So I wonder if a protected initial environment was needed to
develop Throwing.
--- end quoting Wikipedia on Oreopithecus in parts and where I comment
on specifics ---

Archimedes Plutonium
www.iw.net/~a_plutonium
whole entire Universe is just one big atom
where dots of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies