If we evolved from monkeys why are there still monkeys?

Question

Or apes etc, no neighbour jokes please!

Answer 1

We didn't evolve from monkeys. Evolution Theory doesn't say we evolved from monkeys!! Humans and monkeys evolved from a common ancestor.

Answer 2

As an animal evolves it does so to take advantage of a niche that its specific adaptions will help it succeed in. It does not necessarily mean that the animal that it evolved from wont still be successful and survive in its own right.

One of the answers states that there are no examples of evolution occurring now. That is totally misinformed.

There is a famous case of a type of moth that lives in England.
Before the Industrial revolution the moths were nearly all completely white, as the industrial revolution churned soot and smoke into the atmosphere the habitats that the moth lived in became covered in this soot and the white moths stood out against this background and were easy prey for its predators. Over the following decades the moth evolved into a black variety which then was camouflaged against the background and had a much better chance of survival. That is evolution.

For other examples just look at your pets, they have all evolved, although forced by man through selective breeding, from single ancestors.

E.g all domestic dogs evolved from the wolf over the last 50,000 years or so. It may not in this case be natural selection but it does show that selction can happen

Answer 3

And if all mammals evolved from mice, why are there still mice? And if all life evolved from bacteria, why are there bacteria? When something evolves it doesnt mean the old species necessarily goes extinct, and ceratinly not right away. The whole process takes millions of years.

All dinosaurs didn't go extinct, some evolved into birds. Eventually, there were no more dinos and just birds. Eventually, there will be no more gorillas/chimps/etc....just humans....and then we too will slowly be something different so in 20 million years, humans as we know them wont exist anymore, it will be something different. Evolution takes MILLIONS of years. That is what most people cant seem to grasp. Humans have been around no more than 200,000 years. In a few million years, there probably wont be monkeys anymore.

Answer 4

The theory of evolution is still full of mystery. Yet, it still a theory, haven't been prove till now. And the other fact is that we didn't evolved from monkeys directly.

The other fascinating fact, if the theory is true, it still can't explain why it can be happened in mass, not in individual species. This fact maybe also can explain your question. The evolution didn't happened in mass, so only some "lucky" species evolved to other kind of species (it can be our ancestor), the "unlucky" one still become other primates like apes, gorillas, monkeys, etc.

Answer 5

We have evolved from common ancestor. You can ask similarly, if there are whales, why there are also still dolphins (or other way around)?

You can ask even a more general question: why there are so many species if life has started from one-cell organisms some ½ billion years ago (or earlier). Approximately 4.5 billion ears ago the Earth has just formed, and there were no species at all.

While complexity increases, there are different possibilities to evolve, and they are explored. The process of self-organization (providing gradients of energy) is nothing new for science, but least educated people (e.g. creationists) are usually centuries behind.

Answer 6

Thousands of years ago, there was a genetic divergence and several species were created from a single ancestral organism.

So we did not evolve from monkeys, we evolved from the same creature as monkeys. Evolutionary theory at its finest.

Evolution is the most logical answer...rather than some being who created a world in six days and let us suffer disease, war, famine.

Answer 7

We and monkeys evolved from a common ancestor. Also, going further back in time, all mammals evolved from a common ancestor. Further back still, all vertebrates evolved from a common ancestor. Yet further and all animals evolved from a common ancestor. Foetal development of human embryos reveals a number of the evolutionary stages and our commonality with our relatives.

Evolution continues today and can be observed in species less complex than ourselves during our lifetime. For example, many invertebrates have been observed evolving as environmental conditions have exerted selective forces on individuals of many species - notably the much studied fruit fly. Also many pathogens harmful to humans, where medical science has previously found ways to combat have subsequently evolved into resistant strains that no longer respond to the known treatments, i.e. super-bugs in common parlance.

Evolution is a theory, but a theory that has undergone its own evolution of refinement and increased weight of evidence in support of. It is also a very complex theory that may be beyond the understanding of your averagely educated individual, particularly individuals who are closed-minded and ignorant due to their religiosity.

The knowledge that scientific methodology provides us with is far more potent and amazing to behold than childish mythologies of godly magic. The existence of a god clever enough to create the universe would surely be a god clever enough to create an evolving universe and to doubt the ability of a god to be able to do just that, may seem damnably blasphemous to that god.

Answer 8

We didn`t evolve from Monkeys but from Apes or more accurately an Ape-like ancestor.
By your logic you believe only one species is possible through Evolution but you only have to look at certain species today to see variances in the same animal e.g. the African and Asian Elephant vary in ear size through parallel evolution , or more significantly Man.

Answer 9

We branched out from one species of ape, NOT MONKEY and that branch was not only successful and survived, but also evolved over thousands of years.

Other similar species did not evolve as far. The concept of inter-species mating also took place. After all, in modern times, African Americans date and marry white women etc, .... same general idea.

This example is not attempting to negatively comment of the evolution or lack of same of either.

Christians will tell you that evolution is a myth..... Lucy, as they call her, is a prime example of this concept of evolution, she is the first recorded example of a creature to walk on two legs independantly, rather than a creature that would also use it's knuckles to walk on as well.

Answer 10

Do some research. No one ever said we evolved from monkeys. No one ever said that life happened by accident. Those are just the views of pig ignorant Christians who think the bible is true. Read a book for **** sake.