Atheists, during the billions of years it took Darwin to transition from ape into a man, how did...?

Apparently, we've been having some trouble teaching basic facts about it. And not just atheists have been having this trouble: I'm not one of them, and I'm utterly appalled at some of your notions.

First, it didn't take billions of years for humans to evolve from apes. (And I trust you realize we didn't evolve from modern ape species, either, but rather from ape-like common ancestors.) It took about three billion years for us, and most other modern species, to evolve from photosynthesizing cyanobacteria. Our ancestral species weren't eukaryotes (having a cellular structure with nuclei) until about 1.8 billion years ago, and weren't multicellular until about 1.2 billion years ago.

None of our ancestors had evolved TO anything like an ape when any of the creatures you named existed. In fact, two of them (Gorgonopsids and Dimetrodons) were extinct before mammals appeared.

There were mammals in the late Jurassic, when Carnotaurus and Archeopteryx were around. (I am presuming Carnotaurus was your intended reference; I can find nothing about "Cartotauruses" online, although the notion of a map-making dinosaur is intriguing.) These particular ancestors of ours were small and probably hid a lot; they also, being small, probably bred very quickly, which is still a good strategy for small creatures that are frequently preyed upon.

They did, however, have some helpful abilities. Breeding fast means they could evolve faster, and study of their brain cavities suggests they had two very useful enhancements over reptiles: a much more elaborate sense of smell, and a considerably heightened sense of touch. The enhanced sense of touch works well with hair or fur, detecting minor disturbances in air and small shifts in the wind. Both sense are very useful for avoiding being eaten; the propensity to evolve elaborations in brain capacities was also passed on to their mammal descendants, including us.

As to Darwin's discovery of the concept of evolution, you merely have to look up his biography and read his books. He held the position of naturalist on an exploratory voyage--a post which required wide-ranging acquaintance with biology, and particularly the diversity of known species. He also corresponded with other such highly-skilled people, so they could share information about their particular specialties in biology.

At least when he wrote to explain the concept of "natural selection," as he called it, he made direct comparison to UNnatural selection: the development of new domestic species of both plants and animals by breeding, which humanity had practiced for quite some time, and in which many had developed remarkable skill.

The major difficulty he seems to have encountered was the mental leap of discarding the implications of the word "species," in order to recognize the true nature of species. The assumption of separate creation of each species was built into biological science as it was taught then; he had to recognize that that assumption simply contradicted what was observed.

Back then they probably didn't even know we existed. So when they came to the edge of the pond to drink they sucked us up and digested us into their system pretty much the same way we absorb bacteria that lives within us. Some of get absorbed into the system while others are evacuated out the back to ferment in a hot pile of Dimetrodon poop. Eventually we evolve into something more than that but not for another ten or twenty million years. That is how we survived.

There weren't apes billions of years ago. There weren't dinosaurs billions of years ago.

As to the mammals that did exist at the end of the age of the dinosaurs, they evaded them the same way they evaded extinction from meteor impact when the dinosaurs died out: they were small enough to hide and survive till their reptilian counterparts were no longer a threat.

Nice try though, gathering up random dinosaur names to try to lend credence to your argument.

There weren't dinosaurs billions of years ago.

As to the mammals that did exist at the end of the age of the dinosaurs, they evaded them the same way they evaded extinction from meteor impact when the dinosaurs died out: they were small enough to hide and survive till their reptilian counterparts were no longer a threat.

This question is so stupid xD It did not take Darwin billions of years to figure out the theory of evolution. All the things you mentioned did not exist in Darwin's time, which was just a few hundred years ago. Your having trouble with making sense in my eyes(:

For one, it took millions and not billions.

The brain question = natural selection and random mutation.

Evolution is not that complicated to understand. Creatards like to think it's something that it's not.

Evolution is just fine. It's rock solid.

Sadly this is the level of intellect Christians display.

[Yes I am well aware most Christians accept the scientific theory of Evolution.]

Archeopteryx was a primitive bird dinosaur. They existed millions of years before the apes.

You don't need a big brain to operate a shotgun.

Checkmate!

Evolution is a FACT. Just because you have less than a third grade education doesn't make what you do not know false. Grow up.