If man evolved from apes; why are apes still apes today? Why aren't they evolving into man?

Question

Could Darwin have been wrong about us evolving from primates. Maybe, that is why the "missing link" has never been found; because there isn't one?

Answer 1

Evolution doesn't work like that.

Evolution does not have human beings as it's goal. 10 million years ago primates started splitting off into certain species that are still around today. It started with gibbons, then i think orangutans, then what eventually became human and chimps, then other smaller monkeys. Not all of the these varieties have a "goal" of becoming human.

We did not descend from modern "apes", modern apes and humans come from a common ancestor. Chimps are our cousins, not our grandparents.

BTW, there is no official classification of "ape".

Sometimes species evolve into a simpler form instead of a more complex form. For instance some birds lose the ability to fly, their wings become too weak to become airborne. Eventually the wings may practically disappear (kiwis) or become something smaller and simpler (penguins).

Answer 2

Please take this with the kindness I intend:

If you have read any of the these answers, it should be really clear that you don't understand evolution very well. Everybody is making the same corrections:
1. Man did not evolve from any species of apes that exist today;
2. Man and apes branched from a common ancestor, which is extinct;
3. Species are born when one species branches into two ... two populations become separated and evolved separately;
4. Apes have evolved, and are still evolving;
5. Apes are quite happy and well-evolved for their environment, so they don't have to evolve into man, or anything else:
6. Modern apes cannot evolve into man simply because things don't evolve into an *existing* species, only into something new.
7. There is no such thing as a "missing link" ... this is a nonsense concept. There are many, many discovered *transitional forms* (not missing at all), but no single "missing link."
8. Darwin isn't the only person who proposed the evolution of primates, he was just the first to propose a mechanism by which it might occur ... since then, evolution is a well-studied branch of science that has been reconfirmed by *thousands* of scientists (some of them pretty smart people) for over 150 years.

So from all of this it should be glaringly obvious to you that you need to learn a bit more before rejecting evolution outright.

Please.

I'm not asking you to accept evolution.
I'm asking you to *understand* it before rejecting it.
That's all.

Thanks!

Answer 3

Apes do just fine as apes. They are still evolving, of course, but evolution doesn't have "goals" except to keep a species reproducing.

Our ancestors were an isolated population of apes. Other populations, with different environments and selection pressures, were the ancestors of today's chimpanzees and bonobos.

To answer some of the "common ancestor" people above -- we did indeed evolve from apes. Not today's apes, to be sure, but if we could magically pluck that common ancestor from five million years ago and bring her to the present, you'd identify her as a hitherto unknown ape.

There isn't really a "missing link" -- we've found plenty of hominid fossils linking us to the other great apes.

You're probably a Christian. Ponder this: Christianity was an offshoot of Judaism. If Christians came from Jews, why are there still Jews?

Answer 4

The answer to your question is that you are wrongly assuming that natural selection is forcing every living thing to become more complicated or an organism that can rank "higher" on the taxonomic chart. This is simply an erroneous assumption.

All natural selection does is tend to pick the best organism in a given environment. Is there a benefit to apes becoming more human like? Actually, there probably isn't much pressure to do so,they are doing quite well in their environment (save for all of the poachers who shoot them, but it's unlikely any animal will ever evolve a Kevlar vested torso ;) ).

So no, the 6 generations of Biologists since Darwin's time have not been fools. What is needed is for you to learn more about the subject. It's fine to ask questions, but to assume that thousands of scientists have just been utter idiots is not a reasonable premise.

Answer 5

You are obviously critically undereducated about biology and evolution. Perhaps you should ask this in religion, where you will still be critically undereducated.

Man and apes evolved from a common ancestor, and unlike the predominantly European wealthy males who first studied evolution, most scientists know that we evolve to fill a niche, not to be like man.

Indeed, I'd say some humans are evolving to fill a niche of unbridled ignorance, wouldn't you?

Answer 6

Help! Why do you think it is necessary to ask this question???
I just tried it out. If I even type in "if man evolved from apes" 144 questions of this kind show up.
It's been answered, it is not an original question, and it shows you did not understand evolution. The last may not be your fault, but failing to research is your fault.
Please visit at least this web site: http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/2996
This is a website maintained by creationists. And even they state loud and clear that this question should not be used as an argument against evolution.

Answer 7

I believe that we were evolved from a lesser human, but not from monkeys. Also the reason you don't see apes evolving before your eyes is because evolution takes over a million years. Evolution happens, just not quickly.

Of course you can believe the Christians mumbo jumbo about god creating humans and animals and ........ Ok I'm done.

Answer 8

Man didn't evolve from today's apes.

Man is just one of multiple species that evolved from long-ago apes.

Being able to talk and plan is a HUGE evolutionary advantage, which is why we live all over the planet and apes' habitat is ever-shrinking. However, being able to hide in trees and so on isn't bad either, which is why other species have survived at all.

Answer 9

Man did not evolve from apes, we shared a common ancestor. We now have a complete fossil linage up to the common ancestor. They are still arguing over that.

Answer 10

Man, apes, and old world monkeys share a common ancestor. We did not evolve from apes. You got it?