Yes, I claim that you cannot account for ERVs in any other way than humans and other apes once were one single species that diverged. You simply cannot explain why the ERV's stay within a strict tree formation. Your laughable bestiality explanation predicts the furthest thing from a strict tree,
First of all the tree is imagined, if I recall, just a grouping of certain creations, as if they evolved from one another. The issue at hand is the primates, and the ervs. I could see ruling out some ideas if you had a good case. I can't see that at all yet. Precisely what ervs are in what apes chimps, or monkeys, that could not be explained as wicked pre flood contact, some offspring, and a mess of adapted or 'evolved' species from them?? (For example, there are some thirty five or something like that, species of tigers, all coming from the one on the ark)
and doesn't come close to explaining how we have ERV's in common with species much more different than us.
That, likely would have to be a different past's different way of dealing with virii. After all, if we look at bible documentation, and the long lifespans recorded there, we can assume that disease was dealt with far differently, as well as any virus, germs, etc.
As a curiousity, I might ask what we know of the ervs, to where the virus was identical to today's or not!?? After all they do mutate, and a flu changes. etc.
Nowthen, if the virus of the past were benefitial, why that might change the whole picture! So, we need to look at precisely what we actually KNOW, and seperate that from the things we assume.
Furthermore, your bestiality explanation would predict that we would see 'half breeds' which are not only completely impossible, but would be incredibly obvious.
Good point. But, how do we know, say, chimps are not half breeds? Or, some original primate 'kind' that adapted to chimps?
I would like to rule this one out. One would think that God would have had some barriers there that would have prevented that sort of thing, like today.
I am starting to like the other idea more.
EDIT:
" Typically, ancient proviruses have sustained numerous point mutations, deletions, and insertions, rendering them incapable of expressing virus. No biologically active viruses have been associated with the ancient proviruses. .."
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/96/18/10254
Sounds like they really don't know whether the leftovers really were not something used in another process than we know. The bad virus we might know today, that evolved from possibly a good one, or less bad one, then, seems beyond our ability to determine?! Therefore, we can toss out assumptions of how things are now spread, and some such things!?
". HERV-KC4, HERV-KHML6.17, and RTVL-Ia are found in both OWMs and hominoids, ..... By contrast, HERV-K18, RTVL-Ha, and RTVL-Hb are found only in humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas"
Seems we might then have some chance of looking at why some things are, such as the pattern mentioned above. Offspring are no longer needed to account for things! Wow.