If evolution exists then why are there still apes around?

Question

See I provided a reasonable question and get a miriad of question bashing but no real answers. Y'all cannot answer why there are not still cave men because it doesn't exist.

Ok dully noted Robet K but if that's the case then why is the cycle not still going on today. I mean why can't we still see or find the other more primitve creatures around I mean hypothetically if they came from squirrel like creatures like you said then where are those animals. Their should still be those kinds of creatures slowly evolving into more neanderhals etc. I mean you should be able to see all the stages of the evolution but you don't .

Answer 1

Other than ms_coktoasten (and myself) I don't think anyone got it.

I'm not sure anyone actually read your full name.

Answer 2

I will assume that you are asking this question out of genuine ignorance rather than as some kind of sarcastic creationist attack.

As others have said, humans and modern apes both evolved from a common ancestor. The creatures that we evolved from no longer exist, because they evolved into us.

Incidentally, Robert K was incorrect to say that apes "haven't gotten as far" as we have. They are as much evolved as we are--they just evolved in a different direction. We developed more intelligence, while they developed other traits that were better suited to the environment that they came from.

(actually, I don't know that they are "as much evolved". There is actually a way that biologists have of measuring "how much evolutionary change" a population has undergone, but that's pretty complicated. In some cases, a population goes a long period of time without evolving significantly, and they are refered to as "living fossils.")

When a population splits off in two directions that are geographically isolated, the two populations of the same species will develope differently due to the different conditions that exist. When they reach a point when they are not genetically close enough to reproduce with eachother, they are then considered two different species.

Evolution is something that *usually* takes much too long to be able to percieve in a human lifetime, but it is always happening around us. Just think about kids growing up. Do you ever see a child perceptibly increase his/her height?

One other point that I think needs clarifying. Modern apes and squirrels and the like wouldn't be expected to evolve in the same direction that we did, to become more human like, because A) they are not the same as the creatures that evolved into us, as I already discussed, and B)even if they were, evolution is extremely unlikely to happen the same way twice, for many reasons, one of which is that reproducing the exact same environment is unlikely.

I hope this clears things up.

Answer 3

It's not a bad question, don't listen to the above. Personally I don't beleive in evolution. So therefore apes and man are two different things. Just because we have some of the same characteristics doesn't make us something that we are not.
I have a better chance of winning the lottery every single day for a month straight than to say that we evolved from fish and a big bang.
Again, don't listen to the above posts.

Answer 4

A new species can coexist with other closely related species, if the incipient species has evolved a new lifestyle in which it is not directly competing for the same resources in the same locations as the other species.

In the case of man, we evolved from a chimpanzee-like ape approximately four million years ago. Human ancestors developed a bipedal gate and more advanced toolmaking abilities that allowed us to forage for meat in woodlands on the ground, instead of the canopied treetop lifestyle preferred by our closest relatives.

Since the proto-chimpanzees preferred a mixed arboreal and terrestrial environment and these early humans preferred to stay on the ground in more open areas, they were after different food resources. And both species' teeth became specialized so that they could not even eat the same diet.

We did not put pressure on their habitat, and neither did they on ours, allowing both species' ancestors to survive until the present day.

As to your point: "there should still be those kinds of creatures slowly evolving into more neanderhals etc."

No there should not. Evolution does not have a "direction" in the sense that cells in an ape get together and say, "we should be a caveman in four generations, or we're off schedule!"

Instead mutations come along which serve a member of the species advantageously, who passes these mutations off to successful ancestors who spread the gene throughout the local population.

Scientists recently concluded that chimpanzees - due to the fact that they were more numerous than people for millions of years - have actually mutated more since our common ancestry than we have. They've evolved more than we have.

Our mutations, though fewer in number, have been more drastic and successful. One reason why no chimpanzee could re-evolve into a "Neanderthal" is that the human ecological niche is already taken. Any chimp who became a large brained, stone tool wielding biped would find himself in fierce evolutionary competition from a species with a two million year head start!

As to why there are no cavemen? Well, in fact there are - us. Our ancestors lived in caves for thousands of years, just like most other hominid species did. So there are still cavemen, we just chose not to live there anymore. If by cavemen, you mean "neanderthals", well....

The Neanderthals, another highly advanced and intelligent human, do not survive as an independent species until the present day because we beat them to all the resources that we were both competing for, and because we absorbed them into our own population.

Answer 5

Why should you be able to see all the stages of evolution? One level evolves and disappears as another level evolves. You fundies ask a brain dead question and since there is no intelligent answer to it you jump up and say "see you are wrong" No we are not wrong because you ask stupid questions that have no answers. Apes did not exist 2 or 3 millions years ago, but their ancestors did. Modern man did not exist 2 or 3 million years ago, but his ancestors did. What is there that is so hard to understand.

Answer 6

Boy, this question just never dies, does it?

It' not that apes changed into human beings. Human's and apes both evolved from something even more primitive. I've always pictured it as being more like a squirrel. (though I'm probably wrong there; the link was probably more ape-like than a squirrel.)

And apes just haven't gotten as far as we have.

If the idea of evolution could be dashed with something as simple as "Why are there still apes?", then it would have happened long ago. Even those sinful scientists would have given up on it by now.

Answer 7

Evolution is a process that moves incredibly slowly. You can see some species that are ancient ......and are still living today. Other species are extinct...for various reasons.

Human beings and apes are close descendents. You can go to the zoo today, and sit and watch the apes. Look at their elbows, ears, they even have mannerisms which are close to ours. You can see the resemblance.

And why just focus on apes......every living being on this planet is connected....to each other, through millions of years of evolutionary cycles, and to the Creator, who uses the process of evolution to create.

Answer 8

Ah,the famous question.Believers in evolution claim it's still happening today,but it's so slow it can't be observed.How convenient.Bone fragments and artist renditions of what it supposedly looked like is a fallacy.Students taking their teachers word for it turns them into zombies.If they question evolution,they get raked across the coals.No wonder people believe in it.Their not allowed to scrutinize it.Sounds like indoctrination and brainwashing.

Answer 9

Easy, they've adapted as much as necessary and have no need to evolve further at the moment. Not all apes were or are destined to evolve into humans; by evolving into humans, the species that became us sort of won the evolution lottery, so to speak.

Answer 10

You are a coward! If you REALLY wanted answers to this question, you would be asking this in the Biology section. Nothing anyone here can say will move you to think. This is one of those challenge "questions" in which you are really saying "Neener, neener, neener....you can't prove evolution to MY satisfaction!"

Edit: Holy ****! I've been duped again. I've got to be more careful about this! Ignore my above rant and here's a toke to you!

Answer 11

That is like asking if Butterflies exist, then why are there caterpillars still around.

If evolution did happen, it was not on its own. It was through the use of intelligent design, meaning that the creator had a hand in the process.