Human quadrupeds discovered in Turkey

[On the Road]

LONDON (AFP) - The discovery of a Turkish family that walks on all fours could aid research into the evolution of humans.

Researchers believe the five brothers and sisters, who can walk naturally only on all fours, may provide new information on how humans evolved from four-legged hominids to walk upright.

Nicholas Humphrey, evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics, told The Times the discovery opened "an extraordinary window on our past".

---snip

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060307/sc_afp/turkeyhealthscience

(photo from TimesOnline article)

[Atman]

1. Already a thread going on this one

And the general consensus is...BULLSHIT.

Why do they wear SHOES, but nothing on their hands? Hmm.

[Orrex]

2. Duh--it's obvious

How can they tie the shoes on their feet if they have shoes on their hands?

Clearly you have no head for serious scientific inquiry.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. I thought they were searching for Bush's WMD.

[MADem]

4. That was my first instinct, but then, there's this

All five are mentally retarded and have problems with language as a result of a form of underdevelopment of the brain known as cerebellar ataxia.

However Humphrey told the Times their behaviour may be partly the result of their parents tolerating the behaviour in childhood.

They are aged between 18 and 34 and live in southern Turkey, athough the makers of the documentary have not disclosed their exact location.

"They walk like animals and that's very disturbing at first. But we were also very moved by this family's tremendous warmth and humanity," Jemima Harrison of Passionate Productions told the Times


If it is a true story, I'd check the groundwater in the region. Five children, all mentally retarded?

[MADem]

5. Well, both Times of London AND BBC have been hoaxed, then

Professor Humphrey, who has been contributing to a BBC programme, The Family that Walks on All Fours, to be broadcast on March 17, said that weeks of study, and factors such as their hands’ shape and callouses, showed that this was a long-term pattern of behaviour and not a hoax. “However they arrived at this point, we have adult human beings walking like ancestors several million years ago,” he said.

The siblings, who live with their parents and 13 other brothers and sisters, are mentally retarded, as a result of a form of cerebellar ataxia — an underdevelopment of the brain similar to that in cystic fibrosis. Their mother and father, who are themselves closely related, are believed to have passed down a unique combination of genes resulting in the behaviour. While Professor Humphrey said that cultural influences in their upbringing may have played a crucial role, with parental tolerance allowing the children to keep to quadrupedal walking, others believe that the cause is more purely genetic.

Uner Tan, a professor of physiology at Cukurova University in Adana, Turkey, who first brought the family to the attention of scientists, argues that the gene mutations have made them regress to a “missing link” primate state, also explaining their severe problems with language. A team of German geneticists believes that the family holds the key to a breakthrough gene for bipedality.

Researchers said that while the women affected, Safiye, 34, Senem, 22, and Amosh, 18, tended to spend their time sitting outside the family’s basic rural home, one brother, Huseyin, 28, went into the local village on all fours, where he could engage in basic interactions.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2072832,00.html

[Atman]

6. Oops...here's your answer...

"Their mother and father, who are themselves closely related, are believed to have passed down a unique combination of genes..."

How many times do you have to be told...don't go marryin' yer sister!

[Celtic warrior]

7. On all fours

This story just reeks, I don't buy it, will make good ratings though...

[Swamp Rat]

8. LOL!

:rofl: