2006-09-24 05:20:27 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Other - Education
Oh my God, this freakin question AGAIN!!!!!!, Look if God made man from dirt, why is there still dirt?
2006-09-24 05:22:01 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 10⤋
Why are there so many colors of humans on the planet? Why are there so many species of flies or mosquitoes, or any other creature for that matter? The simple answer is that at a certain turn in the evolutionary road, someone went this way or that way and the surviving results are with us today. The failures died.
An ape somewhere a few million years ago was born with different genes than the others. It passed on those genes to its offspring which passed them on. Slowly those genes modified and came together in such a way that the first humans came into existence, although somewhat apelike. Over hundreds of millenia those genes too modified until humans became what we are today. The genes are still trying to adapt us more in ways we don't understand or even recognize as modifications. We prefer to call them mutations, but that has a negative connotation.
2006-09-24 05:33:40 · answer #2 · answered by quietwalker 5 · 7⤊ 0⤋
Humans *are* apes, descended from earlier apes. Our closest relatives are chimpanzees, and the most recent common ancestor of both humans and chimpanzees was approximately 6 million years ago.
The way to understand our origins 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, because reproduction is imperfect - 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 survive and 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.
NB: The reason we're classed as apes is that there is no valid way to group all the other apes together that doesn't also apply to humans. In other words, whatever criteria you use to define what is an ape, in order to include chimpanzees, gorillas, orangs and gibbons, humans will also fit those criteria. Indeed, chimpanzees are more closely related to humans than to gorillas, and gorillas are more closely related to humans and chimpanzees than they are to orangs, so any classification that separated humans out from those other apes would not make any sense.
2006-09-26 05:44:34 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 13⤊ 0⤋
No one ever claimed that we evolved from Apes. Apes have evolved just as we have. We have both evolved from the same ancestors. Just like lions and tigers and house cats evolved from the same ancestors. Everything has evolved. Do you think that once upon a time there were wild toy poodles running around in the forest?
2006-09-24 05:25:11 · answer #4 · answered by sixgun 4 · 8⤊ 1⤋
okayy so im in world history AP, and im only a tenth grader but from what I understand, and no, I don't believe in this, we didn't come from apes. There were chimp or monkeys or somthing in that family that were all together then they broke off and split up to 3 different areas. One (eventually) evolved into us (along with some other things in between). Another evolved into modern chimps, and I'm not sure what happened to the other? Maybe their apes now...?
I'll ask my teacher and get back to you if this questions still open. Good Luck!!
2006-09-24 05:36:37 · answer #5 · answered by naome2009 3 · 4⤊ 3⤋
We didn't evolve from apes. We shared a common ancestor with them. The same way dogs and wolves shared a common ancestor. Apes are the closest thing to matching DNA with the exception of one nucleotide sequence. Thats why you always hear the big comparisons between the two.
2006-09-24 05:27:15 · answer #6 · answered by Cree 2 · 9⤊ 1⤋
You know, I wondered that in an answer and I got really ripped up one side and down the other for being ignorant about how evolution works.
I hope you can avoid my fate
2006-09-24 05:22:36 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
cuz if u came down the line frm ur great grand father does that mean he has to then be the exact same as u? the original speacies has to remain original other wise the whole of the line of species will die out. thats what i think.
2006-09-24 05:23:32 · answer #8 · answered by Belosnezhka (aka Gex) 6 · 3⤊ 2⤋
That is such a good question. All Apes would evolve just like all animal life has evolved. If Apes evolved into humans then there would be no more Apes...the only logical conclusion is that humans did not evolve from Apes. Humans evolved from an original human state.
2006-09-24 05:29:52 · answer #9 · answered by Sister Cat 3 · 1⤊ 13⤋
The theory of evolution from apes, based on Darwin's theory, is only a theory. Since it is only a theory we are still open to suggestion that maybe we didn't evolve from apes. If we did evolve from apes there is only proof in bone structure so maybe your question proves science wrong. Maybe we didn't evolve from apes because yes you are right, why would there still be apes?
2006-09-24 05:25:53 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 11⤋
If Christians came from Jews, Why are there still Jews?
2006-09-24 09:15:15 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 4⤋