“We Arcadians are descended from what our scientists call Pongo Arcadis," the beautiful ambassador of Arcadia said in response to a question. "Actually, we believe that the direct genetic ancestor of Homo Arcadis, which is what we call our species, is Pongo Arcadis. Our scientists try to use your scientific terms and naming conventions as much as possible, as you see.” The reporters and other people in the audience laughed politely.

Someone else from the crowd raised his hand. “Doctor, I've never heard of… what was it? Pongo Arcadis? I know a little bit about Neanderthals and all that, but…”

“Ah, no, we aren’t descended from Neanderthals or the like… They aren’t part of… Well, let me explain.”

The little Arcadian stopped for a moment, collected her thoughts and started on a new tack.

“Several hundred years ago, small groups of Arcadian scientists were conducting several small digs in a portion of what is now Mongolia. During these digs, our people were able to unearth the fossilized remains of what you call Homo Erectus and Homo Habilis. Other fossilized remains were also found. These seem to be genetically related to the ohers but weren't from the same species. They speculated that they were the remains of what looked like another line of Hominidae - humanoids, too, but not Homo Erectus nor Homo Habilis nor any of the species that you know. But definitely not human nor Arcadian.

“In later years, when our people saw fit to retreat back to Arcadia and eliminate almost all excursions to the outside world, no other expeditions were mounted. In any case, during the eighteen- and nineteen-hundreds, and the twentieth century, we followed the research of your own paleontologists via publications we were able to get from time to time, and were excited when you made your own fossil discoveries. But comparing what we dug up and what you found...

"Well, as your scientists concluded years ago, not all present-day hominids are of the same genetic line. True, chimpanzees, gorillas, humans – they’re closely genetically related to each other, and you have called this line the hominis sub-family. At the same time, you also discovered that present-day orangutans are not part of this sub-family. Though orangutans are part of the main family of hominidae, the orangutans’ genetic line split from the hominids’ line about thirteen million years ago, and they evolved separately. Your scientists call this other line the ponginae, or pongo, genetic sub-family. The unidentified fossils that we found several years ago, which we eventually started calling Pongo Arcadis, is part of this line, so therefore, we Arcadians, or Homo Arcadis, are part of that line as well. The orangutans are to us what the chimpanzees and gorillas are to you. So, though we are ultimately related - both your species and ours are hominidae, but whereas you humans are from the Hominid branch of Hominidae, we Arcadians are from the Ponginea branch.

“As to why we closely resemble humans, our scientists can only surmise that, firstly, we are genetic relatives and, secondly, our ancestors probably went through the same kinds of evolutionary pressures and lived in similar environments that yours did, and nature therefore saw fit to evolve our form in much the same ways as she did yours, hence our close resemblance. Your scientists call this "convergent evolution."

“But there are a few noticeable differences – for gross physical differences, we have, on average, fractionally longer necks, limbs and digits than yours, and though we are omnivorous as well, we have less a preference for meats in our diet. We have weaker eyesight in certain situations compared to yours, but are better in discerning colors and details or seeing over longer distances. And though we are stronger and faster in short bursts, we have less endurance because of less muscle mass, a different diet and an inability to store as much energy due to smaller fatty structures. Also, unlike most mammals, both of our sexes sport functional mammalian breasts, allowing either the male or female to nurse infants. And though we make love and give birth in much the same way as you, our children mature more quickly and we have comparatively longer lifespans. And, of course, we’re not genetically compatible with humans.

“So, although our species come from the same genetic lineage, we are, at best, distant cousins. We are not humans. We are Arcadians. But despite this, we are very much the same in all the things that are important – we look much the same, we feel the same things, we enjoy the same things, and we think, we live, we work, we feel and we love in the same ways you do.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, our cousins, and we say hello to all of humanity.”  

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