If humans are related to apes, but we're "evolved," how come other primates didn't evolve?

Question

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Answer 1

Because "evolved" doesn't mean "become more human."

Other primates are NOT "unevolved humans" ... they are *fully evolved apes.* They are every bit as much a product of 6 million years of evolution (since our branches split) as we are.

Stop thinking of evolution like an automobile assembly line ... where the '87 Camaro gets replaced by the '88 Camaro, then the '89 model, then the '90 model, etc. Species are not cars. Chimps are not the '89 Camaro with humans as the '07 Camaro.

Instead, life (and evolution) is a constantly branching *tree* or bush. Each ape species is its own, fully "evolved" branch ... just as humans are on their own, fully "evolved" branch.

Answer 2

First of all we didn't evolve from apes. We and the apes evolved from a common ancestor. Which was probably very much like an ape. Secondly, apes are still evolving! Given time, millions of years, they might evolve into more intelligent beings! Some people used to think black people in Africa were evolving apes, but not as far evolved as us. (No kidding! They really did! This was a justification for slavery.) Some species have been around for tens of millions of years without changing at all. Alligators and crocodiles, for instance, have been just the same since the time of the dinosaurs. So why didn't they evolve? There is a part of evolutionary theory called 'punctuated equilibrium' that explains why part of a population evolves and part doesn't. The way it works (according to the theory) is that a population of animals evolves to match their environment. Once they do, they stop changing because they are 'perfectly' evolved for their environment. Then some group of these animals leave that environment--for instance, the valley where they live is crowded so they migrate over the hills into the next valley. The environment there is different, so those few of those animals who are better suited to the new environment have an advantage, so they they begin evolving again until they once more reach 'equilibrium' with their new environment. So now you have two species, or subspecies, where before you had only one. In fact this was what led Darwin to this theory in the first place. He visited the Galapagos Islands where each island had a slightly different variety of turtles, birds, etc., because the environments of these islands were all a little different. Meanwhile those crocodiles, who have been in equilibrium with their environment for all this time, haven't changed much in 40 million years, because their environment hasn't changed!

Answer 3

Humans did not come from monkeys or anything in existance today. Humans, chimps, monkeys, and other primates evolved from a now extinct common ancestor.

Humans are not neccisarily more evolved than many modern primates. There is a tendancy for people to think of humans as a step up from other primates but this is not the case. Something that is "more evolved" than something else has simply undergone more genetic changes.

That all being said, chimps, monkeys, gorillas, and all other primates around today will not become humans. They may become something similar someday, or maybe they won't. Humans were the next step on our ancestors' evolution path and that path is unique to us. What humans evolve into, if anything at all, maybe less intelligent than modern humans but this is not "de-evolution".

Answer 4

Actually, human DNA is similar to ape DNA. There is no link between them. Scientists assume we evolved from apes due to the closeness of the genetics. However, the archaeological record has yet to show any common ancestor for apes and man. The Missing Link is still missing. Every primate has evolved to get to where they are now. We have evolved to get to where we are now. But the leap from ape to man is still a mystery.

Answer 5

That's because we didn't evolve from apes. We didn't evolve from anything and there's no proof we ever did. They've only found bones from apes and humans, nothing in between that proves evolution.

Answer 6

humans are related to the other primates according to anthropological typography as vertibrates, mammals, primates, but we branch into homosapiens, others go into chimpanzee, gorilla and etcetra. I think the species were created separatly and remain separate. Perhaps laboratories can cross breed species and under extreme conditions it may happen naturally. The interesting thing to me is that home-sapiens are the only creature with self-awareness, all the others rely on might makes right but we are the only one that has to take responsibility for others in the sense making laws and regulating each others behavior.

Answer 7

They have. We and apes both evolved from common ancestors that no longer exist. Check out some info in the field of anthropology. It's pretty cool stuff.

Answer 8

Um they did!!! Just like other animals ( and plants) the apes would have looked quite different to today's apes.

I know this is always the major sticking point in the "anti-evolution thing"...but maybe try to think about it this way:

We are actually animals, biologically speaking. We meet all the criteria (in the same way a cat or horse or chimpanzee dose) ie. have hair, give birth to live young and feed them milk etc.

Answer 9

because they didn't need to evolve..if you will look closely the animals evolve to adapt to different situations..for example most monkey live in trees ..and just few species on ground .humans became more inteligent to avoid being eaten by predators and to hunt more eficiently..and we are not that smart naturally we become smarter by studying ..
if a human is left in the wild it will become a wild animal see on the internet for yourself.my biology teacher told us of a real case from a russian country that was lost in the woods for a few years,and when it was found he was acting just like a wild animal

Answer 10

They did. They evolved into modern apes.