If we all evolved from chimps....?

Question

... how come they still exist?
Why havn't they all evolved with time to become us, and so be none left?

Answer 1

DRINK!

Woo-hoo! First chimp one today.... already had a Pascals Wager... I just need a "why Catholics worship Mary" for the trifecta!

Just for giggles... We didn't evolve from chimp; we and chimps evolved from a common ancestor. We and chimps both developed traits adequate for our survival... but why bother - you didn't want the answer anyway.

Answer 2

Genetic data shows that we are more closely related to the chimps than the chimps are to the gorillas. In other words, the chimps are our first cousins, and we are both second cousins to the gorillas. The evolutionary split between what became us and what became chimps occurred after the split with what became gorillas.

The implication of this is that there is no way to define a group called "apes" that includes both chimps and gorillas without including us. We are apes.

Answer 3

Evolution is a slow process, it begins with a slight alteration in a gene which for example may make itself noticed in a physical manifestation such as an extra finger (or a missing one). If the creature with such a gene lives long enough to reproduce, the same gene may become apparent in some of its offspring. Obviously if the creature died before it could breed then the gene and the physical manifestation it was responsible for would not get passed down to new generations. Occassionally such a physical manifestation can improve a creatures ability to thrive. Opposable thumbs for example are very beneficial to humans, perhaps without them we would not have been able to manipulate tools in the same way that we do, maybe without them to compliment our intelligence we would not have been able to transform ideas into physical inventions which may have helped our population increase- this is merely an example, not a fact. The point is that if a living thing with an extra finger has a better chance of survival, it also has a better chance of reproducing. Before long the number of individuals with extra fingers would (in theory) out number the individuals without. Eventually the ones without would die out leaving those with extra fingers to proceed down the evolutionary path.

The primate we evolved from was not the chimp. The concept of evolution is that all primates (humans, gorillas, monkeys etc) all evolved from one creature. It's a bit like a big family tree. Imagine if you could trace your family tree back to your great-great-great-great-great-great -great (an so on ad infinitum) grandad. Evolution takes it even further, you would probably find that somewhere along your family tree one of your great-great (etc) grandparents was Hoos erectus who evolved from primitive primate who developed from primitive mammal that developed from a dinosaur. The chances are that if there was enough surviving evidence, we would be able to trace our existence right back to the single celled organism sloshing around in the primordial soup from which life itself originated.

Answer 4

Not only did we not evolve from chimps, but from a common ancestor, but the split of chimpanzees into two species occurred after the split of humans from chimpanzees so the two chimp species are more recent than humans.

Humans and chimpanzees have different adaptations and specializations and do not fill the same ecological niche anyway.

Answer 5

You must be a religious nut, still unhappy with evolutionary theory. We didn't evolve from chimps. Chimps and humans evolved separately from a common ancestor. Even if we had (which we didn't), it's not necessary for the ancestral strain to die out in order for a descendant strain to thrive.

Give it up. It's not a battle to fight. It's a desire to understand. Why fight against that?

Answer 6

Think of it this way: In your immediate family you have cousins and you are all descended from a common ancestor (your grandparents). In making you, your grandparents did not become you.

If we expect all descendants to evolve into the same thing, we are making an assumption that evolution has direction and actually considers the features in the new species as an "improvement" over the old species. This assumption is due to our own classification of species importance - an anthropomorphism of the process of heredity.

Answer 7

Humans did not evolve from chimps. The human (homo sapiens) is a large primate while the chimpanzee is a small primate. Two different branches of the same primate limb.
For that matter, the non-human large primates such as the gorilla and the orangutan are also on a different branch of the large primate limb of the primate 'tree'.

Answer 8

Because we didn't evolve from chimps. We evolved from the same ape that the chimps evolved from.

Answer 9

You cant believe eveything Charles Darwin tells you...we did not evolve from chimps.

Answer 10

you are on the wrong track
evolution works for animals ,but not for people
we were created by the Anunaki as a slave race to mine gold for them
by cloning and genetic engineering
the reptilian brain in out heads is a souvenir of Anunaki genetics.

all other pre-homo sapian humanoids lived at the same time near the same place ,Zimbabwe which are the oldest and deepest gold mines in the world ,they were mistrials of Anunaki experiments ,until they got it right and made us.
there were not of millions of years between them as evolution would suggest.
so we were apearantly seeded by exstraterestrials
the Anunaki appear in legends of almost all ancient civilizations ,from Africa,India ,China,babylonia ,and even Europe(england)
the Dragons ,Serpants ,Demons ,and Devils all represent them

the story of Adam was the symbolic story of the creation of this race (not just one man)

the snake in the garden of eden was Enki the only Anunaki who wanted humanity free and independent
and he was depicted as evil by the real evil Anunaki in power
their evil descendents the illuminati to this day try to control and enslave a large part humanity,by organised religion ,and keep them divided by the wars they create so that cultures can be more easily ruled .
but dont tell Christians this they have been programmed ,that this can never be true .

their denial of Aliens as forefathers or Gods is unreasonably and inexplicably violent,
even though Genesis and other historical accounts from all over the world suggest of exstraterestrial interaction at the dawn of civilization. Source(s) AnunakiPDF
the biggest secret and bloodlines of the illuminati,by David Icke on www.infowars.