If I were a monkey, why didnt all monkeys evolve as most transitional species do?

Question

If the Great warm up wiped out the mammoth and lead unto the Elephant, no question there. All that proves is that there are no mammoths anymore. So why are there still monkeys since if Darwin's theory is true about survival of the fittest? Mankind should have put shame to the monkey by now.

Answer 1

Your question would imply that the primates of today are the same as those in mankind's evolutionary past! Evolution is a process that all organisms undergo at different paces, due to various influences in their environment upon the population! When mankind's ancestors were around, Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Orangatangs, etc were not, at least not as we know them today (as evolution has acted to shape their current phenotype as well) Similiar creatures however were around back then/ These either died out, became one of the many sub-species of man (which either died out or interbred with the population that became modern man), or evolved into modern day apes!

Our ancestors were probably chimplike, but due to either predation, deforestation, who knows what forces or combination thereof, began to walk upright and live in what was likely a great plains environment. They adapted to use their brains more, and created tools, weapons for hunting, etc. And through time and continued change, we are the result. If we indeed did evolve from the same ancestor as the chimpanzee, their segment of the population obviously was not influenced by the same environmental forces.

Likewise, if something were to happen to mankind, say a disease or other natural disaster, but leaft these other current primates unharmed, their desendants might one day yield a population of creatures very similar to man, depending on how they adapt to the various evolutionary forces acting upon them through time.

Answer 2

Hello,
We didn't actually evolve from modern monkeys. Humans and modern monkeys evolved from a common ancestor. Evolution is not an active process, but a result of new environmental pressures or environmental opportunities. When a new opportunity opened up (the appearance of the plains and all they had to offer), some ancestral primates were better suited to take advantage of that opportunity than others. Some individuals were better capable of moving around on flat land, and maybe standing up a little so they could see farther over the new flat land. Others stayed in the forests. Over time, we broke into distinct populations. As always, individuals who are better able to cope with wherever they are have more kids and are better represented in the next generation. It's pretty neat, really.

Answer 3

Transitional species are an illusion of hindsight.

Monkeys are successful and widespread, and before the neolithic probably outnumbered humans by a substantial margin.

Their is no selective pressure on 'monkeys' that would encourage the proliferation of higher intelligence, upright posture, or greater social complexity.

BTW- It isn't "Darwin's theory", the theory has been updated with other discoveries in heredity and genetics. It's usually referred to as the "modern synthesis".

Mankind is putting shame to the monkey, as we are doing a fine job of driving the other primates towards extinction through habitat destruction and hunting.

Answer 4

first, we didnt evolve from monkeys we evolved from champanzees. second, there are different types of evolution and you are talking about speciation (the developement of new species) in the case of the mammoth and elephant, the elephant was more adapted to the environment and that is when survival of the fittest comes in. with humans and chimps, we were not competitors for resources and we were able to survive at the same time without interference.

Answer 5

While humans did not evolve from monkeys, you are making a mistake when you assume that men are more fit than monkeys. If you drop a the average monkey into a city, it'll struggle to survive, possibly even thrive after a while. If you drop a person into the jungle, he'll likely die quickly.

Answer 6

hello, humans are homo spiens. may be we are have simillar with monkey but that is not means our ancestor is monkey. monkey have many kind of type. so how can all the type of monkey evolve become humans. actually evolution are happens when a living things try to adopt themselves to the environment.

let see, the origin of life start with prokaryotic, then become eukaryotic, then after a long time, it become many type of the species.

next, we assume that humans's ancestor and monkey' ancestor are the same from the begin. then evolution and change to become many type of monkey(and the humans as one of the family). at this time the humans that i had say is still not a homo sapiens. but after another long time, it become simillar to us by evolution and also cause by the environment. so not all the monkey will change to humans.

had you heard about super valcanol that happens a long time ago, the populations of humans were to litter only. thus it cause humans had to thinks how to keeps thier popurlation and survice.so that humans brains become more big and clever, because we always use it. hope this will help.

Answer 7

That is not how evolution works. There were differant populations of ancestral monkeys that were seperated somehow, probably physically, and the differant populations evolved into differant niches. We were not spawned from monkeys... when you think about evolution you have to consider that it works at differant levels (like the level of the individual gene, the cell, the individual organism, etc).

Answer 8

Wow, what a misinformed question. First off, humans are not monkeys, they are part of the "Great Ape" family, which includes Gorrillas and Orangutans. Secondly, this is soo stupid, why are there 300 types of bee's? If evolution works, why didn't they just all turn into one type of bee? Do you even understand how evolution works?

Answer 9

In order for a species to evolve it needs to have a sudden change in its habitat. This causes certain members of the species to adapt whereas other members don't. The members that did adapt are sometimes more likely to produce offspring with the same genetic adaptations they have; right alongside the original species without the adaptation.

Answer 10

Darwin never said we descended from monkeys. That's a misconception. He DID say that we were related to monkeys--cousins if you will. He said we share a common ancestor, not that we descended form them.