If humans have evolved from apes, why do apes still exist? (This isn't a religious question btw.)?

Answer 1

We didn't evolve from chimpanzees or gorillas. Rather, chimpanzees, gorillas AND humans all evolved from some common ancestor. Having a new, superior species evolve does not necessary make the old ones extinct, unless they both fill the same ecological niche in the same area of the world, and humans and chimpanzees don't do that (humans are built for walking upright on the ground, while chimpanzees are much more arboreal). Your argument in no way disproves evolution.

Answer 2

Humans *are* apes. The most recent common ancestor of both humans and chimpanzees was approximately 6 million years ago.

The way to understand this is to remember that living organisms are in a state of constant change - It's not that evolution *can* occur, but that it *must* occur, simply because there is no mechanism in living organisms to ensure perfect, flawless reproduction for ever.

Suppose you could study a population of chimpanzees in the jungle, on a timescale of millions of years. Clearly, each individual only lives a few decades, so the population is constantly being succeeded by individuals which are different from their parents - and remember, this is *inevitable*. It can't *not* happen. All the time this population is inter-breeding, the genes are getting mixed together, and only genes which work well with all other chimpanzee genes will tend to get passed down to successive generations (because individuals with genes that don't work well together will tend not to reproduce).

However, suppose that circumstances arise which cause a group to become genetically isolated from other chimpanzees. This could be as a result of an accident of geography (e.g. an impassable river) or breeding preference or simply great distance. There will develop two distinct groups of chimpanzees which can never again exchange genes, because they have become different enough that mating will not produce viable offspring. This is what biologists define as speciation - i.e. the population has forever split into two distinct groups. Biologists have observed many instances of speciation, so there is no doubt that it occurs.

Assuming that both groups continue to survive, it is again *inevitable* that they will diverge genetically - There is no possible way that both groups, isolated and independent from each other, can change in exactly the same ways, and the longer they continue to breed, the more different they will become. Over millions of years, given that the rate of genetic change via mutation tends to remain fairly constant, the two groups will become as distinct as today's chimpanzees and humans are from each other, and from their most recent common ancestor.

All this is based on what we *know* is true - it's not supposition or guesswork, and remember it's not just possible, it absolutely *has* to happen, because there is no mechanism in biology to make reproduction a 100% perfect, flawless process.

Hope this is a useful explanation.

Answer 3

just because one animal evolves from another does not mean the old one becomes extinct. one of the basic rules in nature is that 2 species cannot occupy the same niche one will always push out the other, so if a new species occupies another niche both can exist. it is only when they compete can the new species lead to the extinction of the old.
the ape question you ask is popular with relgious people who use it to disprove evolution but following the same logic dogs evolved from wolves but they still exist. in fact all living things evolved from something else and in many cases the old form still exists.

Answer 4

because not all of them had the same mutation that we evolved from. if there were 10 apes in a group, one might mutate and pass the new evolved gene to its offspring, but there are still 9 other apes reproducing without that gene. so only the offspring with that new gene would have been able to pass it along as well, so eventually, half the population or so would have "evolved" while the others just went along on their merry way. same thing with fish/birds. there are millions of types of fish/birds, they have just mutated along the way so that each is specifically designed to do what it does the best, but it doesnt mean that the others would just die, they are just different

Answer 5

Another good question to ask is -if we evolved in apes, why does there are some people who look like a horse?

Answer 6

I don't know of too many evolutionists that believe or say man evolved from apes. Mostly people who don't believe in evolution say evolutionists say that. What they do say is humans and apes sometime in the distant past had a common ancestor so it makes complete sense that both are still here. The more traits organisms have in common the more closely they are related. We have a lot of traits in common with apes so we are more closely related to them than we are to say, a dog.

Answer 7

Apes have adapted into an evironmental niche that others were slow to adapt to. Humans have evolved to fill a seperate niche which we capitalised on and have dominated. There is now no chance of apes becoming like us, while we are still around. At least that's what I think is the reason.

Answer 8

Because the evolutionary tree has branches. Chimpanzee DNA is very close to human DNA. BTW: biologically speaking we are classified as apes, because we ARE apes - we just have the biggest brains. Your question, btw, is not a valid argument against evolution. Study DNA and you will understand why evolution is very real no matter what anybody says.

Answer 9

Scientists don't believe humans evolved from apes, they believe modern apes and humans evolved from a common ancestor.

Answer 10

Dude, the same thing ran through my mind the other day. We did not evolve from apes. Thats why apes are still around.