Anti_Burglar wrote:
Just a question that has not yet been answered except by conjecture and cavil.
Very easy to answer. The reason transitional fossils are difficult to find is because fossilization is a very rare process. 99.99% of the time when an animal dies, its remains are scattered or eaten by scavengers. So finding a well preserved fossil is very rare.
By the way that image seems to imply that millions of initial human ape ancestors have been found. This is Not true. Humans did not evolve from chimpanzees. But Humans and chimpanzees have a common ancestor from 6 million years ago.
So that picture you posted is wrong and misleading. The fossils of potential human ancestors from 6 million years ago are very rare. They include Sahelanthropus, Orrorin Tugenensis and Ardipethecus.
Its also worth noting that even fewer chimpanzee fossils have been found. As far as I know, there is only one chimpanzee fossil older than 500,000 years old that has ever been found. This is because fossilization while rare in the open savannah, is even rarer in forest environments