For people who believe in evolution?

Question

I am not being hostile, but honestly wondering...If you believe in evolution, where are the "cavemen" type humans? If we came from apes, where is the middle animal that went from them to us? If they died off, why did the types of apes that are around now stick around?

Why the thumbs down? And I don't even have an answer yet. I'm honestly wondering the answer to this.

Answer 1

This is a common misconception, I don't know what they teach you guys in school these days...

Apes and humans fill different evolutionary niches, they do not compete, you do not want to live up a tree and they have no desire to start forming a civilisation. The differences in niches are as a result of intelligence, it is a big drop from human to chimp but a very small drop (if it is even a drop) from humans to cave men.

Cavemen and our ancestors did compete and not only this they both wanted to live in the same habitats. One of them had to go eventually, it happened to be Neanderthal man who went and cro-magnon man (our ancestor) who was the best suited and as such survived to produce us.

In short, we do not compete with primates and as such our species can co-exist with out any problems, however we did compete with Neanderthal man and as such one of us had to go.

It's quite late at night and I am tired but I'm sure that if have made a mistake somewhere some idiot will post some mindless rhetoric to point it out to me...

Answer 2

I will try my best to give an unbiased answer:

They evolved into us. We are just an upgraded form of the "cavemen".
Lucy, an early homonid, is often referred to as the link between modern man and the apes. Where? Africa a couple million yearas ago
Some other species of primate left the trees like we did and traveled thousands of miles on foot. Others stayed where they were. Both apes and humans have had what it takes to survive, so both stick around and we see them today. Just because one species does better than another doesn't mean that only one will survive.

We don't know for sure that this is actually what happens, but this is the theory. Though scientists place more credit on the scientific evidence than religion, this theory and religion are both just beliefs and not a PROOF.

Answer 3

The "cavemen" are dead/extinct. The "apes" that we came from were species that were around millions of years ago. Everything that came in between the "apes" and modern humans is also dead and gone. The way we've found some of the animals thought to fit between those ancient apes and us is by finding their petrified remains (like dinosaur bones but "ape" bones). To get petrified remains, the original bones must be buried before they disappear and then we have to chance upon them while digging. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say we don't find many of their bones because many of the dinosaur bones we find are near areas of water and were buried in shallow seas or by landslides or similar while our "ancestor apes" are thought to have comes from grasslands and preyed upon. Grasslands don't generally have the ability to bury remains rapidly and add the fact that scavengers and predators eat them, chances decrease for the remains being buried. Also, these ancient apes and other ancestors did not bury their dead. That is a "recent" (with homo sapiens - 40,000+ years ago) practice.
As for why these apes and other species aren't still around, the earth changes as do the animals and plants that inhabit it. For example, say we have a small monkey in a forest habitat. Something occurs to cause the loss of the forest due to climate change, be it caused by a volcanic eruption, the rise of mountains nearby, shift of ocean currents and winds. This monkey relies on the food and shelter of this forest, if the forest is lost, chances are good this monkey species will also die. Granted this is an oversimplification. What to take away from this, the time scales of the past are enormous in comparison to what we see in our life times. Evolution is constantly occurring (good and bad), but it is generally a slow process. I hope this answers your question.

Answer 4

We did not come from apes. Modern apes, including humans, all descended from a proto-ape. The other ape lines adapted for different environments. Our line adapted for tool use, becoming more generalized. Australopithecus afarensis was our ancestor who was somewhat chimp-like, but had the adaptation of upright walking. Homo sapiens ("Modern" Man) arose about 130,000 years ago. We outlasted Neanderthal Man who only became extint 24,000 to 33,000 years ago. It is unknown if they died at our hands.

You got the reflex thumbs down because too many mindless Bible thumpers say, "If evolution were true, and we descended from apes why are there still apes?" They actually think it's a disproof, and now you know better.

Answer 5

Evolution does not state in any form that we decended form apes and why does everyone think that. It was just some rumor a long time ago that has since been disproven. Apes are in a completly different family. I stronly believe in evolution because i have no idea how some people can deny what is clearly overwhelmingly right in front of them! All species have their own families and apes aren't in ours.

Answer 6

With all life, if creatures survive and repoduce, forms change over long periods of time into different looking forms (they evolve).

There are plenty of fossils of early human like apes (not as many as scientists would like), some which are very much like modern humans, others more ape-like.

The point is that some of the cave-men like early humans had children [descendants] that were slighty more like us, than they were, and over time the cave-men looking humans became more and more like us now. The 'middle' animal had direct ancestors that were different from it, and descendants that were different. all life changes over long periods of time, some creatures are very similar to their distant ancestors, others are radically different. But, none of the creatures alive today are exactly like their ancestors.

The apes alive today and quite similar to apes from the distant past (if we say 25,000 years is distant), and so have not changed much over that time, but they HAVE changed, ie. chimps canine teeth are bigger. Its just modern humans are much more distinct from our ancestors of 25,000 yrs ago. Human morphology (physical structure and attributes) has changed alot over that time.

Also, i must correct Softball. Humans ARE definately in the same 'family' as 'apes'. Actually, apes= a superfamily called Hominoidea, which includes gibbons, as well as chimps, gorillas, orangs and US. The family Hominidae includes most apes, except gibbons, that means - chimps gorillas, orangs and US.
Even if softball contests humans being in the ape family, we are still all primates, mammals, vertebrates, etc (according to the evolutionists like me). Evolution explicity is required to make a stand to say humans are apes. Evolution it is about understanding patterns and processes of ancestry and descent. Descent with modification that is.....from proto-apes into the modern ape species and the human species.

Even if you dont believe in evolution, well done for asking and enquiring about it. Far better to make an informed educated opinion than just going with faith/belief alone. I have a great deal of respect for those with educated informed beliefs, for evolution or otherwise.