"If we came from monkeys why are there still monkeys?"?

Question

If we came from monkeys why are there still monkeys?
Evolution is just a religion based on fairy tales.
Darwin converted on his deathbed.

Answer 1

you're kidding me? I see you post all the time in the R+S section and most of your posts are respectable (even if I don't agree).

Evolution is not a religion and all scientists are not atheists.

Darwin did not recant on his deathbed. that is a myth.

And the question about monkeys is asked many many times. If you bother to really try to understand evolution, you would realize that it is a silly question. During evolution, not all of one species will evolve. This may be due to several factors, the main being physical/geographic isolation from other members of the same species.

Humans and monkeys share a common ancestor and both humans and monkeys have evolved from that ancestor. This is clearly supported by fossil records (human fossils and their ancestors left some of the best fossils we have) and by DNA/biochemical evidence. As an anecdote, consider this: the more similar organisms are the more similar their DNA will be. Monkeys and humans have very similar DNA. Mice and humans have too, but not as similar to monkeys (yet all still mammals). If you look at reptiles then fish, it's getting less and less similar. It's a perfect roadmap of the progression of different species from their ancestors.

Answer 2

If a father has blue eyes, and the mother green eyes, do the father's eyes spontaneously turn green if their first child is born with green eyes? Of course not. Individuals do not evolve. Species evolve.

Why wouldn't there be monkeys? If a species is well adapted to its environment, there is no reason it would change. Monkeys continue to give birth to new monkeys. If however their environment changes, or a population of monkeys moves to a different environment, then any changes in their offspring which prove advantageous in the new environment will be passed on. Over time this may result in a new species.

Evolution is a fact. The evidence for it is in the fossil record. Natural selection is a theory that attempts to explain why evolution takes place.

Incidentally, Charles Darwin was a Christian his entire life. So if he converted on his deathbed, what did he convert to?

Answer 3

Perhaps over generalizing and/or a misread quote or two. Perhaps they were watching a discovery channel show about evolution and one of the narrators said something like "humans, most closely related to monkeys,....." And from there it became "Humans come from monkeys" And since this statement is absurd and is similiar to what actual evolution teaches, some religious people feel the need to put down evolution so that their side gets more followers. I have never heard the "darwin recanted..." before I came to this site, so I don't know about that. Basically, I think overgeneralized HS biology books are to blame for the "if we came from monkeys" statement. After all, HS isn't exactly known for its best teaching abilities in the world. That's why we have college. lol

Answer 4

*drink*

We do indeed have monkey ancestors (take it from me, I'm a top contributor). Our last monkey ancestor was about 22 million years ago. That ancestor isn't any of the monkey species extant today, but would nonetheless be thought of as an "Old World monkey." When I think about this ancestor, I picture Curious George.

There are still monkeys today because we're descended from an isolated population of monkeys. In the isolated population, the selection pressures were different than on the main population. The main population may eventually have evolved into one or more of the species of modern monkey -- or maybe it went extinct, and modern monkeys are descended from other species of monkey that existed 22 million years ago.

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So think of it in these terms: Americans are descended from Europeans, so why are there still Europeans?

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Please read your Old Testament. Did you notice that anyone who disagreed with Moses got skewered on the swords of his fanatic Levites? So the Israelites who thought the truth was something other than what Moses was saying didn't live to tell the tale.

Answer 5

A key mechanism in evolution is adaptive radiation. A successful species gives rise to many related species which branch out to fill various ecological niches. The common ancestor of all living primates (including humans) lived 50-55 million years ago. Its descendant species occupy a variety of ecological niches. Some are closely competitive (i.e., spider monkeys and woolly monkeys) and others are not closely competitive (spider monkeys and gorillas). The common ancestor of all Hominoidae (humans and other great apes)lived 16-20 million years ago. Its descendants include only 5 species (humans, gorillas, orang-u-tans, bonobos, chimpanzees).

While the order primates have enjoyed some success in adaptive radiation, it is nothing compared to some other orders, such as passerine birds. A couple of thousand of different species have evolved from a common ancestor in about the same time span as primates have diversified.

I hope this answers your question. One might as well ask why are there still robins if we have cardinals.

By the way, evolution is widely accepted as the theoretical paradigm of modern biology.

And Darwin's childrem who were with him on his death bed refuted the lie told by Lady Hope that he "converted." By perpetuating a known lie you are guilty of "bearing false witness."

Answer 6

1) Simple answer: We did not come from monkeys. We both diverged from a common evolutionary ancestor. That ancestor is no longer around.
2) Fairy tales? Evolutionary theory is based on observable fossil records and genetic analysis. Creationism is what is based on old stories. Don't get me wrong, the Bible is great, but you can't claim that it has anything to do with science while you own a car, watch TV, post on the internet, and generally enjoy modern comforts.
3) Darwin did not convert on his deathbed. That 'fact' was made up by those who could find no logical argument against evolutionary theory so resorted to ad hominem attacks.

Answer 7

Let me try this with an analogy. I think we all agree that the HIV can mutate into different forms. Thats why its so hard to genrate vaccines and it and also the reason why it becomes restitant to drugs.
based on your logic we should expect that once a new form of HIV developed in a patient all other forms will die out. That would be nice of course because then most of the ppl woould be cured of HIV immediately once a new form develops. But read the news and look around you - it doesnt happen. The point is that a life foprm can mutate into something else and still coexist with the non mutated form.
Now, of course what Im doing here is appealing to your common sense. Im not sure if that will help though.

Answer 8

That is absolutely false about Darwin and was a rumor started by most likely religious individuals, who of course being religious specialize in telling lies. As far as there being monkeys still in existence, we bred poodles to be smaller and smaller and created tea cup poodles, we bred horses to be smaller and smaller to make miniature horses. If that is true how come there are still regular size horses and regular size poodles. You do not understand the concept of evolution and will never understand because of a closed mind.

Answer 9

The Creator of evolution knew monkeys would be necessary as laboratory animals in the future of mankind. That's the reason He left them living alongside man.

Answer 10

Very simply, then--because although evolution is a constant process of species becoming more highly developed, it never says anything about a species needing to die off just because a more highly developed one has come along, provided that the two are not in direct conflict.

Oh, and about Darwin "converting"--sorry, that's a hoax:

These attempts to fudge Darwin's story had already been exposed for what they were, first by his daughter Henrietta after they had been revived in 1922. "I was present at his deathbed," she wrote in the Christian for February 23, 1922. "Lady Hope was not present during his last illness, or any illness. I believe he never even saw her, but in any case she had no influence over him in any department of thought or belief. He never recanted any of his scientific views, either then or earlier. We think the story of his conversion was fabricated in the U.S.A. . . . The whole story has no foundation whatever." (Ellipsis is in the book)