If evolution is for real then why are there still monkey's?

Answer 1

Because they evolved from our common ancestor too. We humans got smarter. The great apes, including chimpanzees, got stronger. They are stronger than us humans. (A 180-pound chimp would wipe the floor with a 180-pound human, even a college wrestler.) The others are smaller and more nimble that we are. (Watch a gibbon swinging through the trees, but don't try to imitate him, unless you have an affinity for broken bones.)

Here is a little something extra for you, what the Cajuns call "lagniappe", like the free cookie the baker gives the kids when Mom buys a big birthday cake:

Back in 1776, monarchists argued against democracy as a form of government. They said it was absurd to believe that "All men are created equal" because anyone could see men came in different heights, weights and colors. Case closed.

My point is not about democracy. It is about debate. Before you argue about something, you should understand it. If you don't understand it, you'll look foolish. Gilda Radner, on the original "Saturday Night Live" TV Show, used to do a sketch every couple of weeks in which she made completely ridiculous arguments. One night she argued vehemently against the "Deaf Penalty", instead of the "Death Penalty". She looked absurd, which was the point, and we all laughed until the beer came out our noses, which was what she wanted. You don't want people to laugh at you.

In a serious debate, you should understand the other side. Note that I didn't say "Believe". Understanding is not the same as believing. If you were to study 20th century European Political history, you would have to understand several forms of government: communism (the USSR), fascism (Germany, Italy), socialism (Lots of countries), socialist democracy, capitalistic democracy and constitutional monarchy. You would not believe in all of them; you could not believe in all of them at once. If you tried, your head would explode. You would, however, have to understand their basic concepts.

If you were to study comparative religion, you would have to understand what Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Taoists and Confucians believe. You would not have to convert to a new religion every week, but you would have to understand the other ones. You would not get very far in your studies if you dismissed all the other ones as "wrong". They believe their path is the right one just as strongly as you believe your path is the right one.

99% of the biologists alive today believe that species evolve, and that the theory of evolution is the best explanation we have for the diversity of life. Christian biologists, Jewish biologists, Muslim biologists, Hindu biologists, Buddhist biologists; Australian, Bolivian and Chinese biologists; 99% of them believe it is the best explanation. Yes, it is only a theory. Planetary motion - the theory that the earth went around the sun, not vice versa - was only a theory for a long time. Some people still don't believe it. Their eyes tell them differently.

Species don't evolve at the same rate and they don't all have to evolve. Alligators, to take one example, haven't changed much for 40 million years. The ones that were 50 feet long have become extinct, but the normal 14-footers are still there in the swamps, hoping men don't shoot them to use their hides for shoes. They didn't have to worry about that 3 million years ago. We humans are at the top of the heap today, either because we evolved or God liked us better than He did the alligators. Either way, we can make tools better than any other species.

Your question has been answered, hundreds of times, by people more versed in biology than I. It gets answered ever week here at YA.

If you are truly curious, ask your minister to give you a short, reasoned explanation of evolution. If he says he can't because it is wrong, he is as ignorant as those monarchists I mentioned above.

Answer 2

The traditional answer is: Some had a choice.

Your question is similar to asking why there are different types of monkeys, or dogs, etc....one changed and evolved. We didn't descend exactly from the same primates/simians that still exist today, we had a common ancestor. That is a very simplistic take on evolution theory. Very few species are exactly as they were centuries ago. Sharks are one of the few species that did not adapt, but I can't think of any others. They didn't need to adapt/evolve.

I have a question: How many times till this question is answered? I have seen it SO many times now.

Answer 3

We didn't 'evolve from monkeys' - if you have any understanding of evolutionary biology at all you’d be able to tell that the question makes no sense – humans and monkeys have both evolved from a common ancestor approximately 40 million years ago.

Rephrased in these terms it would be like you saying 'If I had a common grandfather with my cousin, why do my cousins still exist?'

You see? Phrased like that you begin to see the holes in the theory – the assumption that human kind are the 'point' of evolution - only religious people make that mistake. The question is probably more devastating when asked to a religious person – if we were all created why are there monkeys? They can’t explain the purpose of an animal other than man which is not man’s food or servant because they believe the Universe was made for them only.

Neo-darwinists can easily explain why there are other animals, because that’s just what you’d expect to see, with branching trees that show evolutionary relationships and these are of course, genetic relationships. What do you think it means to say that you’re a mammal? It means you have a common ancestor with all other mammals more than 200,000,000 years ago! You might as well ask if we came from dust, why is there still dust? If you’re honest with yourself, it’s easy to see which theory of our origins is based on reality and which is a merely a pre-scientific allegory from bronze-age humans. Science doesn’t ask you for any faith. Go to a museum, examine the evidence for yourself. Draw whatever conclusions you think make sense and be critical.

Biologists have understood and accepted since Victorian times that we're not the destined pinnacle of evolutionary adaptation, just an unexpected adaptation, one minor twig on the branch that is Mammalia. The Universe may not have a purpose for us, but we can make our own.

Kind Regards.

Answer 4

What's suspicious is the degree to which you do not understand evolution and how natural selection actually work. This is likely due to you either not paying attention in school or your teachers did not do their job and educate you (and others) on the topic. Both monkeys and humans evolved from a common ancestor; and we both have similar traits and features. The fact is ... we did not evolve from monkeys.

Answer 5

You should know the answer to this if you graduated high school. We didn't evolve from monkeys.

Answer 6

Wow, what an ORIGINAL question!! I've never READ this one before!!!
By the way, it's not monkey's.. it's monkeys.

Answer 7

We evolved from some type of primate,--a common ancestor, we are in the same catagory of mammals...

you do know that gorillas and orangutans are not "monkeys", right?

Answer 8

If Allen Iverson got traded from the Sixers, why are there still the Sixers?

Answer 9

Did you parents, siblings, and cousins disappear when you were born?

No?

So why is it that would would insist that the other branches of the primate family would vanish just because humans evolved?

Answer 10

Sorry this question has been asked FAR too many times.. I can feel myself degenerating into Yosemite Sam.... Frickin,frackin, brickin brackin gol darn varmit grrrr!!