Evolution-all on R&S. I know you have heard the question asking, if mankind came from apes, why are there?

Question

still apes? Am I correct in assuming that present day man evolved from various other primates such as Neanderthalman etc.? If so, why are other "pre present day man" extinct? Apes are still around but Neanderthalman isn't. Why? Since the "pre present day man" groups (such as Neanderthal etc.) are extinct, will a time come when present day man becomes extince and is replaced by a more sophiscated mankind? It happened with Neanderthal. Right or wrong? OR will present day man stay around, like the apes of today are still around, and simply become sort of "second class beings?" Apes are sort of second class to todays man. It happened once, will it happen again? Will there be 2007 style people going about the earth just as we do today AND the further evolved, new and improved verson, of man living on earth at the same time? Or--will they just put them in cages? Thank You:

Answer 1

The idea of evolution is still evolving. We came form apes then we came from Neanderthal, then neither we had a common ancestor of an ape but Neanderthal is not related...It's a theory in progress. Actually they cant show anything we evolved from.

Answer 2

First off, my major is cultural anthropology and not physical, so I don't remember every little detail of human evolution off the top of my head, but I can answer some of your questions.

No, we in fact did not evolve from Neanderthals, at least this is the current belief. It is hard to know for sure exactly what came from what because it isn't a simple linear evolutionary pattern. Most researchers today consider Neanderthals a seperate branch of human that was an evolutionary dead end. The thing is, they were adapted to survive an ice age, and when that ended, they were unable to adapt further and eventually died out. And yes, apes are still around and Neanderthal isn't, but many apes that were around aren't around today either, just like many fish aren't around anymore, but some others are.

Will we become extinct and replaced by a more sophisticated human? Perhaps. It's also possible that two or more types of people could be living side-by-side in the future (it's happened before). It's also possible we will just go extinct with no evolutionary continuance, just like Neanderthals. And based on the fact that the world is currently undergoing a mass extinction, quite possibly because of our actions, it isn't too crazy of an idea. The thing is, we (and all creatures) are evolving even now (one example is that humans are becoming taller on average as time goes on). It just isn't leading to a new species (as far as we know). Evolution of new species is a very, very slow thing most of the time. It doesn't happen overnight and there is no way to just say "oh wow, now there is a new species." The time scale is just too long to be observable at the time based on the length of our lifespans.

Also, you make some incorrect assumptions about the superiority of modern humans to other "second class beings" like apes. There is no such thing as a second class being. Just like in human societies, a difference does not mean one group is superior to another, but merely that they are different. The reason some animals die out while others, even "less advanced" ones, survive is because the ones who die out weren't fit for their environment and the others were. Perhaps the extinct ones had a very small niche, and when the environment changed, they couldn't evolve fast enough to adapt, whereas others could (or didn't need to because their niche was wide enough to survive the change). Cockroaches have been around for millions of years, and although they may seem inferior to us, they are much more successful than we have been, and probably ever will be because they have such a ridiculously wide niche and can (as a species) survive all kinds of disasters. The natural world isn't a black and white struggle, nor is it a hierarchy of superiority. It's far more complex than that.

BTW, we didn't evolve from apes. First, we actually are a type of ape, and second, human and non-human apes both evolved from a common primate ancestor; we didn't evolve directly from chimpanzees though, for example. They have a similar relation to us as Neanderthal did, except the split between modern humans and chimps took place before the split between modern humans and Neanderthal, and the chimps are still fit for their environment, unlike Neanderthals. That is why there are still chimps but not Neanderthals. And as I said, plenty of other non-human apes have gone extinct. Chimps are to now extinct non-human apes as modern humans are to now extinct humans--the ones most well-adapted to survive in the long term.

I hope I helped clear things up for you a bit.

Answer 3

We are all victims of evolution. If our line survives good, It might have to change a bit to be able to survive though.
The other large apes are still here but they are getting very scarce. The neanderthals might have died out from being unable to adapt to a changing world or been killed off by us. We do not know yet.
There is a chance that we might have gone past the point where the planet can support us as well.
Will we become a second class species? Well, who knows.
Those are all really good questions and maybe you should be studying anthropology or a related field.
It might even be interesting to post this question again over in the sciences section.

Answer 4

Actually, it's debated as to whether or not Neanderthal man is in fact an ancestor of modern man, but that's not really your point. Why are there still apes and why are there no longer other forms of hominids? Well there are actually books upon books written on this subject, but I'll attempt to explain briefly.

One of the most basic 'rules' of evolution is that when two species or even two populations occupy the same niche one will take over and the other must leave. That species that fails, will either adapt to another niche, perhaps become nocturnal or become extinct. Many species of primates who's ancestors were day time animals were pushed out of their niches to become night time animals. This is one reason for variety and extinction. Earlier forms of the hominid line have been forced to extinct.

Then we want to look at divergence. Apes don't just turn into humans. In fact, all species have evolved. Evolution is not a change or a hierarchy where homo sapien is the end goal. There is no goal in evolution except survival of the species. If we look at Darwin's classic example of the Galapagos finches, we can see divergence. Separate species of finches with a shared ancestor living at the same time. These finches have adapted so much that they have evolved into new species. Remember, evolution can be considered adaptation on a much longer time line. The same thing, divergence, happened with primates. The modern primates have evolved from shared ancestors, but diverged into many different species.

Anyway to cut this short, if you really look at it, biologically humans suck at adapting to our enviroment. We use our brains and culture instead. Each species of homo got more intelligent and more elaborate culture as time went on. These days, humans don't really adapt biologically as other animals. When the weather is cold, we wear clothing instead of growing fur. What will the future of evolution hold? Well, no one can be sure. I believe we will continue to evolve culturally and if allowed, biologically. Perhaps modern man will become extinct for a new version of man, maybe even more versions of man like H.G. Wells predicts in the Time Machine.

Answer 5

The idea that we descended from apes is false. It would be more proper to say apes and humans are descended form the same ancient primates. Ancient primates were not the apes of today. Its possible that humans will evolve into two or more distinct groups. The start of this is evident in the different races. The global society we live in now is slowing or stopping the separation of the raises from a evolutionary stand point.

Answer 6

WOw you have too many to ask, Apes you see today are already modern animals. The apes are evolving too it takes longer than the human lifespan can see in large animals. Plus, science never claims that Homo sapiens evolved from apes.

"if mankind came from apes, why are there?"
We never came from apes, we just share common ancestors with them.

"If so, why are other "pre present day man" extinct?"
We are perfectly suitable and adaptable for life, but as time goes by the Homo Sapiens are going to extinction too....we are heading towards one just like every specie, but don't worry, our great great...great grand children will evolve into superior species or atleast different from Homo sapiens.

"will a time come when present day man becomes extince and is replaced by a more sophiscated mankind?"
Yes, everyone is currently evolving, but not in a scale in which we suddenly turn into a different specie right away, the details are too small to see, plus bacteria/viruses have been proven to evolve. it takes longer than the human lifespan to see the actual specie gaps evolving in larger animals. The gradual change suggest that, we would be still capable of reproducing with the previous or prior generation. Your are genetically closer to your parents than to your great-great-grand parents.

But to some it all up: Evolution doesn't claim that apes you see today have or ever will evolve into Homo Sapiens.

Answer 7

Hi let me try to scientifically explain this. Every person alive on the face of the Earth today, and those who have lived and died, like the Neanderthal and other related humans, all have the SAME maternal mitochondrial DNA. The humaniod "LUCY" which was found in Africa and dated to I believe 1.5 million years old has the SAME maternal mitochondrial DNA as you and I. Read your Bible and it will tell you in Genisis, that God created male and female (pre-man) and told them to go forth and multiply. AFTER God did this THEN He made MAN and placed him in the Garden of Eden. Adam was made only 6000 years ago. We can prove this by backdating the lineage of his descendants, from Jesus to Adam, then adding the 2000 years from Jesus to us. We know that there were humaniods here on Earth long before 6000 years ago. But, these humaniods were not MAN. When Adam and Eve sinned God sent them forth from the Garden to go into the rest of the world which was already populated by pre-man. If you look at how the Neanderthals became extinct you will see that as populations increased the neanderthal was breed out of exsistance. Only those populations, however, that came from the ORIGINAL lineage of Adam and Eve became civilized humans. The Austrailian Aborigines and the black africans, not the Egyptian Arabs, and the North and South American Indians did NOT become civilized as they were part of the pre-man group which God had made during his experiments to create a perfect being after His on likeness. The blacks, especially the ones in the USA, will deny this but look at the facts. The black Africans are still living in the stoneage as are the Austrailian Aborigines and the South American Indians. ONLY through the help of the civilized man have these peoples slowly started moving out of the stoneage. Think these people could make a space shuttle? Remember the little prehistoric horse from your elementary school science book, epphisus? Then remember the next bigger horse? Was there ever any mention of any fossils found of horses between these "models"? NO!! Why? Because God came down here and performed bio-genetic engineering on them just like on Man. Man will be here. We, the ones from Adam are the top MEN can't be replaced, only improved.

Answer 8

Modern apes and humans diverged from a common ancestor. That animal is no longer around. The apes and humans are all still here because they fill different ecological niches.

Weather Neandertals are extict is a question not yet answered. They may have hybridized with the more modern humans and we are the offspring of both.

To say that 'men came from apes' is a great misunderstanding of what evolution means.

Answer 9

You haven't quite grasped the basic concept of Evolution.

Man evolved from a common ancestor we shared with apes around 7 million years ago. One branch of descendants from this common ancestor went on to evolve into modern apes (branching many more times to produce the range of species we see today, together with many other species now extinct).

The other branch produced a range of human species in a similar manner. Just as with the apes, at various times a number of different human species co-existed, one of which was Neanderthal Man, who is not believed to be a direct ancestor of modern humans but more of a distant cousin. The last Neanderthals are believed to have died out only 30,000 years ago - a blink of an eye in evolutionary terms.

When one species branches into two new ones (a process called "speciation") it is usually because the original species is separated into two by some barrier so that interbreeding between the two branches cannot occur. If there was no barrier (such as a mountain range, the African Rift Valley or sea surrounding an island) then the two halves of the species would interbreed and no speciation would occur.

Later the two newly-diverged species may once again meet up and in such circumstances they may find themselves competing for food, territory, etc. This is what happened when modern humans evolved - gradually they out-competed the other human species so that they all died out. This probably happened more than once as various human species evolved and only the strongest survived to once again diversify.

It is unlikely that present day man will undergo further speciation because we now have no barriers to keep different parts of the same species apart long enough for them to go off in their own evolutionary directions. However, physical barriers are not the only ones that exist and if, for example, it became globally unacceptable for different races or religious backgrounds to interbreed and this was maintained for a very long time then conceivably two sub-species of human may appear.

Apes (and indeed all other organisms living today) are in no sense "second class". As all living things share a high degree of commonality in terms of genetics and DNA it is almost certain that we all share a common ancestor sometime about 3 billion years ago. Therefore all living things have been evolving for the same length of time and as we are indeed all living then we are all equally "evolved" in as much as we are all equally adapted to our respective environments, as evidenced by the fact that we are alive. This is just as true for humans, apes, cabbages and bacteria.

Answer 10

Archaeology is a science with its own section. If you intend on beating a dead horse, you are welcome to it. God created the universe, life and everything. How He did it is something some people like to find out. Others who are content with the status quo are not malleable or bendable and unable to deal with change. This is how many people figure the Neanderthals may have died out. (or been wiped out by smarter healthier others). They were unable to adapt.

Modern man most likely evolved from Africans. There are two groups of Africans that share common DNA markers on their "Y" gene with everyone in the entire world. Using these markers, scientists have discovered that the "newest" human on the planet is the Native North American, whose DNA markers have more than the Oriental or European DNA. It is not likely that any North American Indian will put anyone on display in a cage.

Answer 11

this is actually a well-posed question, but it's premise is mistaken and all too common. evolution is not a process of constant improvement or 'progress'. over many generations, species either continue to adapt to their changing environment and evolve, or don't adapt and become extinct. species can also split into two or more separate species as subspecies move into different environments or acquire different genes. if you could stop thinking of humans as the pinnacle of evolution, instead imagine that we are just another species that is well enough adapted to its environment to survive and reproduce (although the way we manage that is rather unique), all these questions about class,superiority, and why 'inferior' species still exist would simply vanish.