If we evolved from apes,?

Question

then what color skin did the first humans have? Apes have dark black to dark brown fur but under their fur, their skin is light brown/pinkish. And I've read that the first humans were from Africa and were black. How do we know that the first humans were in Africa? Apes lived in today's Africa, Middle East and southern areas of Europe. Do the scientists say that the first human was in Africa because that's where the oldest skeleton has been found?

Answer 1

We know that humans evolved in Africa because that's where we find not only the oldest human remains in the world, but the highest concentration of species that are human ancestors, some of which are found nowhere else in the world. Also, research with DNA has shown that African populations have more genetic diversity than any other humans on the planet, indicating that people have been in Africa longer than anywhere else.
It is good to keep in mind that humans are not descended from apes; humans and modern apes are both descended from a common ape-like ancestor. Apes do have pinkish/lightish skin beneath their fur, but the exposed skin (not fur-covered) of adult chimpanzees turns very dark as they grow older. Anthropologists have theorized that as the human lineage lost most of its body hair, the function of skin changed dramatically in order to maintain proper body heat with an active lifestyle. That includes the expression of skin color through the functioning of melanocytes (pigment-containing cells in the skin). As people moved throughout the world, extreme variation in skin tone developed so today we actually have a clinal distribution of skin tone ranging from almost white to almost black, with every shade in between.
If you are interested in the evolution of skin, and it's special biological and cultural significance for humans, try to pick up the book "Skin: a natural history" by Nina Jablonski. It's very good, and easy to read.

Answer 2

First of all, humans did not evolve FROM apes, we evolved WITH apes. That is, humans and other living apes share a common ancestor.

Secondly, there is no conclusive evidence that the first humans were black, it is simply assumed since the earliest humans were found in regions currently populated by dark-skinned peoples. The only way of knowing what skin color the first humans had would be to find the remains of an early human that still had flesh, which is quite unlikely.

Lastly, many scientists do indeed continue to say that the first humans evolved in Africa, and do so because that is where the oldest human skeletons have been found.

Answer 3

Humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor millions of years ago. Early humans first evolved in Africa - much of early human evolution occurred on that continent. There is scientific evidence that proves this, i.e. the fossil record and artifacts. These bipedal hominids (who had ape-like features) inhabited Africa for a very long time. They gave rise to other human species, who eventually migrated to Asia and Europe. There are so many websites where you can learn about human evolution. Human evolution is fascinating.

Answer 4

I don't think scientists think we evolved from apes. I believe the theory is that we evolved from a creature or combintation of creatures which were the ancestors of both apes and humans. The remains in Africia are of a human type which predates the common era homo sapien, but is well after the split from the common ancestor ( the Missing Link).

Answer 5

We certainly did not evolve from apes. This is evolutionary philosophical tosh.
All hominid fossils found thus far are either clearly ape or clearly human.

Claiming that we evolved from a common human/ape ancestor is just playing with words - just what would you call this alleged ancestor? Hmm, let me think - an ape.

http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3048/

To answer the question, the first humans, Adam and Eve, would have had mid brown skin, containing the genetic information for a variation in their descendents.
There is in fact just one skin colour - brown - and how brown you are depends on how much melanin there is in your skin.

Lets have some factual input here:
http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3677

Answer 6

The law of probability is a very powerful rule if a person can learn to tune into it. It is telling me we probably didnt come from apes or Africa. Scientist have pushed this aside because they want to sound more technical.....Eventualy they will have to come back to it. A person has to have a certain degree of common sense to connect with it though.

Answer 7

Evolutionary anthropologists and biologists theorize that the earliest prehumans skin tones were similar to that of chimpanzees-little to no pigmentation. As preHumans evolved to lose fur that protects from harmful UVA and UVB rays they needed another defense. Those with darker skin became selected over those with light skin for since the pigment melanin (the cause of the skin looking light to dark) provides some protection. This is evident in modern day populations. We find in African populations that have African albino members, that the albino members have a dangerously increased risk of skin cancers, due to their lack of pigment. Sunlight also causes the breakdown of critical folic acid in people with low melanin (lighter skin) causing birth defects and deformities in fetuses.
As human populations migrated out of Africa and into more northerly latitudes, the intensity of sunlight lessened. People with darker skin in areas with less sunlight have greater risk of skeletal deformities (ie rickets) during child development. This is because sunlight facilitates the creation of Vitamin D. Lots of melanin (dark skin) blocks too much sunlight in these areas causing dark skin to be a hinderance unless Vitamin D is supplemented in diet (ie Vitamin D whole milk). Therefore in northerly latitudes, light skin is selected for and takes an environmental edge over dark skin.

Answer 8

Only addressing the how do we know from Africa part.

Humans from African extraction have the greatest genetic diversity. Genetic diversity takes a very long time to develop - hundreds of thousands of years for a slowly reproducing longer lived animal like ourselves. Africa is indicated as our common ancestry because elswhere people's genes are more similar to each other, indicating that they came from a much smaller ancestral population which traveled there from somewhere else. Except Africa.

;-)

Answer 9

On a documentary I saw chimpanzees have very light skin (they're 98% related to us) it was when we first lost our fur our bodies needed better protection and darker skin is better against the sun. It was once believed skin colour was from evolution but we now know the reason for skin colour are the intensity of vitamin d from sunlight around the word.

Answer 10

A slight rewording would be in order in your question. Humans did NOT "evolve from apes." Apes and humans share a common 'ancestor.' Since I'm not an anthropologist I don't think my opinions would be of any real assistance to you, c'mon bone studiers, help 'er out.