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

Answer 1

People did not evolve from apes. People and modern apes evolved from a common ancestor which no longer exists, which should match your apparent expectations. But there's no reason why humans could not have descended from a different animal that still exists, but the remaining specimens would have descended from individuals that never left the original population to enter a new environment that spurred the later evolution. Humans fill one niche, while other primates fill different niches. Asking why apes still exist if humans evolved from them is like asking why England still exists if Americans came from England, or why the Catholic Church still exists if Protestant faiths came from it.

Answer 2

First and foremost, this is NOT a religious question. This is a scientific question involving the intricacies of the Theory of Evolution, and Natural Selection as it pertains to the Origins of Man. For this to have been a religious question, it would have to have included inquiry pertaining to the "why" of the evolution of Man and Ape.

As well, the very context in which the question was asked implies that this question was not meant to be posed as a comment on current religious theory, but rather a simple question about a well evidenced scientific process.


Man did not evolve from any current form of Ape. The modern great Apes are merely alternative branches off of a common ancestor. The closer the ancestor, most likely, the closer any two species will be. Ape and Man share a relatively close common ancestor, and so they are similar. Man and Lobster however, share a relatively distant common ancestor, one from LONG before that of Ape and Man, and as well the similarities between Lobster and Man are much fewer, and the differences greater.

If evolution worked in the way that I believe you to have understood it before, there would only ever be one species, but this isn't the case because different environments exert different selective pressures on different species. These pressures shape the way in which Natural Selection selects its evolutionary "winners". This selection in turn, over generations, can allow for many different species to derive from one common ancestor.

I hope that helps.

For the record I am extremely religious, I believe in God as a divine creator, and I believe that the human soul contains the essence of the divine. This does not preclude me from intelligent scientific thought, or reason in general. Please be reasonable, and keep Religious comments and suggestions where they should be kept: THE RELIGIOUS FORUMS.


Tiger Striped Dog MD

Answer 3

See my answer to the question "What is the single biggest fraud perpetrated on the human race". The answer to this question is the same, so I'll quote it below

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

The single biggest fraud is the Darwinian theory of evolution. Actually Darwin plagiarised the idea from the Vedas - however in the Vedic texts the evolution described is an evolution of consciousness. There are 8,400,000 species of material bodies which have been created by the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, and the individual conditioned soul is offered a body amongst those species according to karma and the development of consciousness.
The conditioned soul thus evolves through different species and gradually comes to the human form, where he is able to take to the science of self realization and acheive spiritual emancipation.
Evolutionary theory would have us believe that material nature and the complexity of the universe is under the aegis of some random and impersonal force. This is nonsense.
Only a supreme intelligence is capable of creating and controlling such a vast system. Events happening in that system are not the result of haphazard and coincidental forces, but are always under the absolute control of Sri Krishna.
Common sense tells us that species do not transform into other species. How can we be fooled into accepting that monkees have or will ever give birth to human beings - even over vast time scales as the evolutionists argue.
And how is it that this theory is accepted as axiomatic truth? The theory of evolution is exactly that - a theory. It is certainly not a fact. And the mentality that the theory generates has promoted a materialistic culture focused on sense gratification, which we can easily argue is destroying the planet

We didn't evolve from apes, the Darwinian theory of evolution is absolute hogwash

Answer 4

This is a common fallacy people have with understanding evolutionary theory. People did not descend form apes. Rather, all primates, including apes and humans, descended from a common ancestor millions of years ago. As time went on, due to evolutionary pressures, the two branches of apes (primates) and homonids (man) diverged. With the result that we are now two different species. The fact that we came from a common protohomonid ancestor is preserved in our genes. We share >90% of our genetic heritage with chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas.

Answer 5

humans did not evolve from apes.

Answer 6

Because that branch of apes haven't evolved yet.

"If all chldren become adults, why are there still children?"

Answer 7

Wrong place for your religion-biased question. Please remove question.