Descended from the Apes?

Question

Whilst watching "Monkey Business" on Sky last weekend, my 8 year old wanted to know why, if we are descended from the apes, there are still apes.. Any ideas

Answer 1

We are actually descended from "Peas" the guy who wrote "Apes" was Dyslexic

Answer 2

We're descended from a primate that also gave rise to modern apes. Your child's quite understandable mistake is to think apes are more "primitive" than us. They're not, they've just evolved to suit a different lifestyle. And, somewhere, way back down the line, unimaginably long ago, we shared a common ancestor, which explains why we have so much biology in common. Maybe Sky didn't quite get the words right?

Answer 3

This Q gets asked 10 times a day in Religion and Biology. you can browse the questions there to find different viewpoints if none of us genealogists' answers do it for you.

According to the theory of evolution, humans and the great apes descended from a common ancestor some time ago. All of the apes (including us) split off from the tailed monkeys some time before that, both monkeys and apes split off from the lemurs before that, and so on.

The great apes are close to extinction; in 100 years, at the rate we are going, there will be no more gorillas, chimps or orangutans in the wild. They may exist in reserves or zoos. That will be a sad proof of the theory; we are better fitted to survive than they are.

Back to your son's question - the common ancestor looked like a small, stupid, weak chimpanzee. We developed brains and the ability to use tools. The chimpanzees got stronger. (A 200-pound chimp is stronger than a 200-pound man; their joints give them better leverage.) The gorillas and orangutans got much bigger and stronger. All four of us evolved, just in different ways.

Answer 4

Because those ain't the apes we evolved from. They, like use, evolved from previous apes and at some point of time the same apes!

Incidently we are apes. No really, we are part of the ape family and there is about 3-5% differnce in our DNA compared to chimps (although that 3-5% makes a lot of differene - mostly in the areas of language).

Hope that makes sense.

Answer 5

Why not highlight the truth to your son , that would be fantastic ? you could explain to your son that evolution is a theory that a man called Darwin thought up less than 200 years ago but was adopted very quickly into popular thinking. It is even now found in most textbooks and taught in schools, and even religious leaders accept it rather than promoting their own idea which is found in the book of Genesis.
I suggest that you read your son from the book of Genesis before bed each night and if he has any questions, or indeed if you do, that you let me please have a go at answering them. you can use this site to post them or try to contact me direct.
think about how the theory of evolution is at total odds to the creation account. it removes the need for a creator. we got here by accident is what it says. it says there is no god, and that ain't right.
by the way your 8 year old is a logical thinker . and is pretty clever. he knows a crock when he hears it.

Answer 6

Apes are descended from an analogous, as yet undiscovered, primate as human beings. And sure there will be a hyperlink to 3 primordial single celled organism. As for the thought we are being lied to, what motivation does technology could lie to us approximately this?

Answer 7

It is the same as saying "Well if reptiles are descended from amphibians like newts and frogs, why are there still frogs?" or "If Amphibians evolved from fish, why are there still fish? " Just because something evolved from another group, it does not automatically mean that the previous group has to die out. If an organism is well suited to its environment, it will continue to exist unless something happens to cause it to become extinct. There are little shellfish called Linguella that live off the coast of Japan that have not changed for over 570 million years.

Answer 8

Apes are a generic name we descendend from a species of ape that began to walk up right, because of this we began to use our hands to make tools as we made tools our ingenuity increased and over million of years we evolved into humans. The apes that are still around chimps gorillas etc never attempted to walk on two legs so they evolved differently from us.

Answer 9

some apes evolved, not all. A change of genes happens by chance to one individual of the spoecies. The rest continue to be apes.

Answer 10

The 'apes' that we are descended from are a different 'ape' to what exists now. There are many different breeds and sub breeds of primate, we are descended from just the one.