2006-07-17 03:04:02 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
apes? How come all the apes didn't beome human?
2006-07-17 03:04:35 · update #1
Different lines...when a genetic split occurs one line breaks from another...the original line may die out, but if the conditions are right it can also survive in its own right...happens all the time, especially if the new species doesn't compete directly with its ancestor...
2006-07-17 03:08:20 · answer #1 · answered by cfluehr 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because evolution is a gradual process. If we imagine a thousand apes somewhere in Africa and one is born with an advantageous mutation - maybe it's a little smarter, or stronger.
All the apes that came from that one mutated ape go on to evolve further, but the 999 apes that didn't mutate stay as apes, or mutate in other slightly less advantageous ways.
So that only the first mutated ape's ancestors go on to become humans, the others just stay apes of various types.
Horribly over-simplified but that's the general idea.
2006-07-17 19:20:41 · answer #2 · answered by UKJess 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Modern man belongs to the genus Homo, which is a subgroup in the family of hominids. What evolved into Homo was likely the genus Australopithecus (once called "man-ape"), which includes the famed 3.2 million-year-old "Lucy" fossil found three decades ago.
The whole human family tree, being able to connect the branches is the life work of anthropoligists and other scientists. The great apes are man's closest cousins, they developed off the main family of hominids.
To say that modern man descended from present day monkeys and apes is as ludicrous as saying "horses descended from zebras, so why are the zebras still around...?"
2006-07-17 19:47:31 · answer #3 · answered by Its not me Its u 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People didn't evolve from animals. Apes will be apes a million years from now and people will be people. DNA and genes doesn't let a living thing become something else. There could be anormalities but the next generations will still be the same species.
2006-07-17 10:12:04 · answer #4 · answered by MAMA 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Look at it this way. 1 million years ago there were a bunch of apes standing on the edge of the jungle looking out at a great treeless Savannah. What to do? All the apes know there are lions and tigers out there and they are safer staying in the jungle. But 1 particular ape is getting on everyone else's nerves and the group are curious to see what happens if anyone go's out there. So they volunteer this pain in the butt ape for the experiment. This ape enters the Savannah. The apes that evicted him hang around for awhile eating bananas waiting for a lion to get him. But instead he disappears over the horizon. They give him up for dead and say good riddance. But Mr Pain In The Butt survives and finds other apes that for whatever reason left the jungle. They find that in numbers they can live out in the open away from the protection of the jungle. FLASH FORWARD 10,000 years. The Savannah Apes have learned to walk upright. They learned this in order to see over the tall grass to avoid predators. The jungle apes are still hiding behind trees or climbing them to avoid predators. The Savannah Apes now have their hands free and begin to make tools- the rest is prehistory. Finally one of the Savannah apes evolves into Jane Goodall and goes back into the jungle to study our ancestors proving that getting rid of a pain in the butt can come back to haunt you.
2006-07-17 11:01:35 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
We didn't evolve from apes, apes and people evolved from a common ancestor millions of years ago. And even then, saying the common ancestor would have died out would be wrong. If you have a son with green eyes, and he doesn't pass on that trait, it would be wrong to say you'll never have any descendants with that trait, since you may have more sons with green eyes.
2006-07-17 10:56:15 · answer #6 · answered by cross-stitch kelly 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because we did not directly evolve from apes, we evolved from ape-like creatures called hominoids. Apes and gorillas also did evolve from hominoids. For an anology, apes and men are two twigs that are connected to a large branch which is the ape-like ancestor.
SImilarly, ants evolved from wasps, but there are still wasps around.. The exact species of wasps that ants evolved from are no longer around.
2006-07-17 10:14:21 · answer #7 · answered by DainBramaged 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the apes you see today also evolved from the apes that we came from.
2006-07-17 10:08:41 · answer #8 · answered by Johnny Platinum 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can tell you never met my brother-in-law....
your answer is we didn't evolve from the apes you see today.
there a side branch...like my cousin Mike.
2006-07-17 10:09:15 · answer #9 · answered by BigBadWolf 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sorry, but we were not apes, we have always been human beings.
2006-07-17 10:07:45 · answer #10 · answered by Linds 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋