Evolution did occur....we all know that. But, i'm not really a scientist and don't know the full details of the theory. I was wondering this question today.....
If we evolved from monkeys (or apes), then how come there are still monkeys in the world?
2007-09-26 14:59:00 · 15 answers · asked by sdboltz07 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
One word ... BRANCHING.
If you don't understand branching, you don't understand evolution. If you *do* understand branching, then questions like this are *trivial* to answer.
Evolution is NOT a linear chain, with one species replacing its ancestor completely (if it was, that would be a really STUPID theory, as there would logically only be one species today!). Instead, evolution is a constantly branching bush.
What causes a species to split into two branches? If a subpopulation is isolated from the rest of the species for enough generations, that subpopulation will evenutally lose the ability to interbreed with the parent species. The one species is now two species. (This process ... 'speciation' ... can be demonstrated quite easily in a simple lab experiment.) Once split like this, the two branches can never again interbreed, never again exchange genetic material (such as mutations). As long as neither goes extinct, both branches will continue to get more and more different over time.
With this in mind, the image of monkeys->apes->humans is the CARTOON version of evolution promoted by people who are anti-evolution ... using the tactic of presenting a ridiculous (and incorrect) version of the theory just so they can then call it "ridiculous." (This is what we call a "straw man" tactic ... if you can't refute your opponents position, then describe it incorrectly so that you have something you can refute.)
Humans did not evolve from what we now call monkeys and apes (the species we now see). Instead monkeys and apes are separate branches ... and what are now humans, chimps, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans, gibbons, etc. are all many branches from that ape branch. Monkeys and apes are not some sort of intermediate stage on our branch of evolution ... they are themselves the endpoints of their own branches. Each branch shares a common ancestor with the other branches ... but once the split has occurred, they (all existing monkey and ape species) have continued evolving just as we have.
So (for example), a chimp is not some sort of "unevolved human" ... it is a fully evolved chimp.
Branching, branching, branching. That's your answer.
2007-09-26 21:20:11 · answer #1 · answered by secretsauce 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well, you have to think about things like bacteria and other single-celled organisms. According to evolutionary theories, life evolved from those things, and yet they too are still around. Same thing with fish, etc.
So maybe it's not so much that maybe we didn't evolve from primates, but that not all populations wound up evolving. Or that they did all evolve from a common ancestor, but evolved differently. There's a thing called speciation, which is basically just the formation of a new species. This tends to happen when certain populations of a species become isolated from others, which allows them to evolve to their specific environment without outside interference (breeding with other populations and thus introducing new genes, introduction of other species into said environment which may prey on original species or affect their dietary habits, etc) which would cause a population to evolve in different ways. Eventually, a population may evolve into such unique variations of the species, that an entirely new and different species is born.
Perhaps such a thing happened when humans began evolving into what we are now.
If you ever read The Beak of the Finch, it might answer a lot of your questions about evolution. But that's only if you really want to know that much more about it.
Hope this helps!
2007-09-26 15:25:27 · answer #2 · answered by mimi 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
All those that stated the 'common ancestor' answer are correct. Modern monkies and apes evolved along different lines then hominids, branching from a common ancestor, most like 20 million years ago, give or take.
By the way, the amniotic egg (egg with a more rigid shell) came long before the chicken, since reptiles evolved that characteristic hundreds of millions of years before birds evolved. :)
2007-09-26 15:16:50 · answer #3 · answered by Science 2 · 4⤊ 0⤋
When apes started evolvinga little by little, not all apes evolved, only a few. So we can sill see some apes even today.
2007-09-26 15:07:54 · answer #4 · answered by sharad 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
First you need to understand that the theory proposed that modern apes, monkeys and humans evolved from a common ancestor (not humans coming from modern apes)
The bigger question would be - if evolution is a long process with potentially thousands of variations of species - why is the fossil record so sparse. Could it be possible that evolution happens in bigger steps than normally thought?
2007-09-26 15:02:53 · answer #5 · answered by wigginsray 7 · 2⤊ 5⤋
Evolution provides for new species to succeed and proliferate when they are better adapted (speciation). It does not mean that the original species goes extinct. This would occur if the new species had a competitive advantage.
2007-09-26 15:10:23 · answer #6 · answered by Matthew P 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I know some people who still act like apes!
2007-09-26 15:02:10 · answer #7 · answered by RT 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
humans and apes had a common ancestor...... we didn't "come from apes"
if you look at it as a tree, apes and humans are like a fork in a branch, coming from the same trunk. make sense?
2007-09-26 15:04:02 · answer #8 · answered by Squirrley Temple 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
We didn't evolve from apes we evolved from a common ancestor.
If Christians came from Jews...why are there still Jews..
2007-09-26 15:07:08 · answer #9 · answered by Franklin 7 · 6⤊ 2⤋
humans and monkeys evolved from a common ancestor, not one from the other...monkeys would be appalled to think they gave rise to us!
2007-09-26 15:07:19 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋