"If man evolved from monkeys and apes, then why do we still have monkeys and apes?"?

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.)

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 (Monarchists are people who want to be ruled by a king or queen, not butterfly fanciers.) 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. One night on the "Saturday Night Live" TV show, Gilda Radner argued vehemently against the "Deaf Penalty", instead of the "Death Penalty". She looked absurd 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.

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. Tell him you don't want to believe it, of course; you just want to understand it. If he says he can't because it is wrong, he is as ignorant as those monarchists I mentioned above.

Answer 2

Where on earth did you get the idea that man evolved from monkeys and apes? Evolution does not and never has said that. All it says is that man, monkeys and apes had a common ancestor.

Answer 3

People who misundertand evolution often pose the question of why monkeys are no longer evolving to be humans. They fail to grasp that 1. evolution is not teleological; that humans do not sit on top of some evolutionary "ladder" to which lower life forms are climbing; and 2. that while monkeys, apes and humans share relatively recent (in geological time) ancestry, each species is evolving in an independent direction (like branches on a tree).

Having said that, it appears as though many apes and monkeys are undergoing rapid selection for increased intelligence. This may be a result of having to adapt to their ecosystems undergoing rapid change from human impact. University of Chicago geneticist Chung I-Wu compared the DNA sequences of genes expressed in brain function among chimps, humans and several species of Old World monkeys. Wu found that the brains of chimps and the monkeys are rapidly evolving for increased intelligence, while those of humans have been static for the last few thousand years.

Answer 4

1. We evolved from isolated populations of these. The main populations, under different environmental and selection pressures than our ancestors, evolved differently - to become the monkeys and apes we see today.

2. If Christians came from Jews, why are there still Jews?

3. If this question has been asked 799 times, why are people still asking it?

Answer 5

A. Why do you have that in quotes.

B. This is a phrase that a lot of people toss around as an argument against evolution. It does display an ignorance in how evolution works. Monkeys, apes, and humans share a common ancestor. Simple as that.



dendronbat
I think we are having a "Planet of the Apes" moment here. Where is Charleton Heston when you need him?

Answer 6

Because, like humans, the modern monkeys and apes also evolved from earlier monkeys and apes, but clearly at different rates, and in different directions. Why do different species of cat exist? Because they all evolved from earlier primitive cats. Lions did not evolve from tigers, did they?

Answer 7

because of the fact apes developed from monkeys and monkeys developed from apes so as that we are all here now, and finally we will all evolve into one yet another back isn't it a surprising international.

Answer 8

We did not evolve from apes. Instead we all evolved from a common ancestor, a primitive Mammal.

Answer 9

Man didn't evolve from monkeys and apes, man evolved from dinosaurs. Hence why there are no more dinosaurs.

And English came from German, that's why no one speaks German anymore.

Answer 10

Man didn't evolve from apes, we have a common ancestor, but we underwent divergent evolution. Our biochemistry is only similar.