New “Ape-Man” Exhibit at the Creation Museum

Christian News Today has an article on a new exhibit at the Creation Museum that is being touted as the “Ape-Man” exhibit. They write:

“There are and always have been – since the sixth day of creation recorded in Genesis – apes and humans. But there never have been any ‘ape-men’ as part of an evolutionary process,” said museum founder and Answers in Genesis President Ken Ham. “We are thrilled about being able to employ some unique and exciting technology to help teach biblical truths to our museum guests.”

Rather than use a large number of signs and models that would take up a lot of exhibit space, a video monitor has been installed on which people will be able to see one of the museum’s eminent scientists, Dr. Menton, addressing the topic of apes and humans. As Dr. Menton speaks on the video, he uses a laser to point at various parts of skeletons found in the actual glass cases below.

So what kind of technology do they use?

An anatomist with a Ph.D. from an Ivy League school (Brown University), Dr. Menton shows how apes and humans are quite different (contrary to evolutionary belief). The laser then shines on the particular parts of the skeletons, as if Dr. Menton is live on the monitor and actually using the laser pointer right there.

The technology behind the exhibit is credited to museum designer Doug Henderson who was trying to think of a way to have parts of skeletons light up as they were being taught about in accompanying videos. LEDs and fiber optics weren’t practical because of wiring issues, so he then hit on the idea of laser pointers. “While the technology isn’t new, the unique aspect of this exhibit is how the lasers interact with the video and seem to be coming from Dr. Menton’s laser pointer on the monitor,” Henderson said.

The exhibit is not listed on the Creation Museum's website's list of exhibits, which just has the Walk Through Biblical History, Dinosaur Den, Natural Selection is Not Evolution and the Noah's Ark Construction Site. This is odd since the Ape-Man exhibit is supposed to open this week. In fact, there is nothing on the home page about it at all. This may change in a few days.

If the exhibit is exactly as described, there are two major problems with it. First, nobody is ever going to argue that humans and chimpanzees are similar skeletally. That is absurd. There has been over 5 million years of evolution in between the LCA and either branch. Second, the DNA evidence, including the shared genetic mistakes, the human Chromosome 2 fusion of two chimpanzee chromosomes, and the ERVs are being completely ignored.

I look forward to a better description of this exhibit since I am not going to get up there anytime soon, at least not for $24.95. I can almost get into Dollywood for that amount.