If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Question

Is there something missing we should all know about?

Answer 1

I think you are misunderstanding the term apes and misunderstanding evolution.

We are apes. We evolved from an extinct ape, from which chimpanzees and bonobos also evolved separately.

The common ape ancestor of chimps, bonobos and humans evolved from another ape from which gorillas also evolved.

It's like a tree from which branches keep sprouting.

Read this excellent site: http://www.becominghuman.org/

Answer 2

Suppose you had a species of turtle and they lived on a specific continent. Now, let us say that some of the turtles were carried to an island offshore, perhaps inside a log when a flood struck.

On arriving on the island, some of the turtles might find food right away, or some might simply die, or others might have to struggle to live. When they reproduce, their offspring will be a little different (just as children are not clones of their parents) and some might be more or less fit to survive on the island.

Since this is a small isolated group of turtles, and inbreeding might be tbe only option available to them, there are soon some inbred turtles that all express similar genes that are reinforced, unlike the population of turtles that are back on the mainland.

Inbreeding and environmental hardship can amplify certain mutations and within a few decades, a new subspecies of turtle can arise. This has been observed to happen in nature. Soon the turtles on the island have bred differently from those they descended from, and you have a new species. But there is no reason for the turtles back home to change at all, so they do not.

Now you have two species of turtle where before, you had only one. This represents how a small, isolated population can change in a few generations, and why the parent population will still remain unchanged.

Now imagine a small colony of animals that were the ancestors of chimps and humans, and the colony being separated by some condition- perhaps a mild winter allowed them to cross a mountain pass one year, but later they were unable to get back.

Soon you have two populations, each similar to the parent organism, but diverging to match their environments. This is a possible scenario for the development of modern humans and chimps from one ancestor.

There is no reason for apes as a whole to die out, as long as the parent population has conditions that suit it.

Answer 3

We're descended from a population of apes that got separated from the main population. The main population also evolved -- into the chimpanzees and bonobos.

Here's another question for you:
Christianity is evolved from Judaism, so why are there still Jews?
Protestants are evolved from Catholicism, so why are there still Catholics?

Answer 4

WHY do people keep asking the same silly question!! when you typed your question did you not see the list of similar questions in blue right underneath??? The answer is because we didnt evolve from apes that live today we share a common ancestor!!

http://www.archaeologyinfo.com/evolution.htm

http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/a_tree.html

Answer 5

THe thing is there's no such thing as evolution from ape to man.. this may seem abit religious, but Adam and Eve were the first to be classified as people and they were created by God directly...

the 'man' we know of in evolution is a primitive being that should not be classified as man.. this is what i think..

Answer 6

You didn't study your biology enough.

It goes like this "Apes and man have a common ancestor."

That means if you go backwards in time far enough then you will find the place where a species split into two new species, one of them destined to become man and the other destined to become ape.

Answer 7

All dogs evolved from wolves, yet there are still wolves.

Individual creatures/communities of creatures can (and do) evolve differently.

Answer 8

Because on the tree of evolution we are on another branch.Genetically we are close though.We just evolved a bit differently.

Answer 9

only a couple evolved, human (sapiens), Neanderthals, erectus, other evolved into chips, gorillas and so on.
All lives forms evolve in different directions and pace.

Answer 10

You know what, I know some people who are dumber than apes!!