What is the best evidence for human beings sharing a common ancestor with the ape?

Question

Please provide sources to scientific research. I would like empirical data, not merely conjecture.

Answer 1

It always astounds me that some people have reached the conclusion that there is "no evidence" ... "NONE" ... who have never ever ever even *looked* for that evidence.

They are like a person standing on the beach, back to the Pacific Ocean, water lapping at their ankles (representing the tiny smidgeon of biology education they did get in school) insisting "there is NO water here ... NONE."

Apparently, they haven't exactly looked very hard.

The scientific literature is *overflowing* with this evidence. Books, journal articles, research papers, courses and course notes ... many of them online, hosted by universities and scientific associations, and summarized beautifully by other sites (i.e. I understand saying that a site like 'talkorigins.net' is as 'biased' as 'answersingenesis' ... but I don't understand saying that all the sources *referenced* by talkorigins (the nations best scientists, universities, and scientific association) are 'biased'. To say they are is just to throw the entire scientific enterprise out the window ... in which case, why trust medicine, or why bother typing anything on a computer, which was produced by (you got it) SCIENCE.

People who say there is "no evidene" ... "NONE" ... are apparently completely unaware of any of the following:

1. Fossil evidence - The way fossils appear in the layers of rock always corresponds to relative development. A regular progression of structures (growing braincase, back and hips consistent showing more and more upright walking, arms and hands showing decreased climbing and increased grasping). Absolute dating of fossils using radiometry. Constant discovery of new transitional forms.

2. Anthropology/archaeology - I.e., human artifacts and mummified remains (tools, cave paintings, campsites, etc.) This only covers the last 50,000 years or so when humans were pretty close to how they are today. But it does document such things as migration patterns around the world (e.g. when humans arrived in different parts of the world).

3. Genetic evidence - These are the genes that we have in common with other primates. E.g. the fact that we have a huge number of genes (as much as 96%) in common with other great apes. Genetic evidence shows that we are more closely related to chimps than to the other great apes, and more closely related to great apes than to other primates (monkeys).

4. Molecular evidence - These are commonalities in DNA ... which is separate from genetic commonalities ... much of our DNA does not code for genes at all. But random mutations (basically 'typos') enter into DNA at a known rate over the centuries. This is called the 'molecular clock' and again gives excellent evidence of when humans diverged from other apes (about 6 million years ago, according to this molecular clock).

5. Proteins - These are the proteins in common with other primates. This includes things like blood proteins (the things that give us our A, B, O blood typing and the Rh factor (the plus/minus thing) which incidentally stands for 'rhesus monkey'); the exact structure of the insulin molecule; and my favorite, the photophigments: The photopigments are the three proteins responsible for color vision. The specific proteins found in human color vision are exactly the same as those found in Old World primates (the great apes and the monkeys found in Africa and Asia). These proteins are absent in New World primates (the Central and South American monkeys), and from all other mammals. In fact among the New World primates, only the howler monkey has color vision ... but these use slightly *different* proteins, coded on different locations and chromosomes, than humans and the OW primates. This is yet more evidence of a closer link between humans and the OW primates.

6. Vestigial structures - These are structures that are useless, almost useless, or just badly 'designed' (a word I use figuratively), that can only be explained in terms of descent from animals in which they were more useful. Things like wisdom teeth and the appendix are classic examples ... but my favorite is the plantaris muscle: The plantaris muscle is a long thin muscle in your calf that serves no useful purpose in humans. It is so useless that surgeons commonly harvest it for use in reconstructive surgery (such as heart surgery). In fact, it is so useless that 9% of people have no plantaris muscle at all. So why is it there? Because it serves a very important purpose in other primates ... specifically, grasping with the feet.

7. Homology - These are structures and proteins that have commonalities between species, but have a different function. The simplest examples are the fact that all terrestrial vertebrates have four limbs, and most have five fingers (e.g. bats, dolphins, whales, birds, reptiles, etc.). There are also homologous proteins. But my favorite are the five bones in the inner ear of humans and other mammals, which correspond in structure to the five bones of the hinged jaw of reptiles. These are evidences that evolution will often take structures left over from a now useless function, and repurpose them for a new useful function.

8. Embryology - This includes things like tails and gill folds in human embryos and those of all other mammals. But this also includes things that are evidence of other creatures are related to our branch ... such as legs and five webbed fingers, and distinct leg-buds in the embryos of dolphins.

Now all of these just concern *human* evolution.

The lines of evidence for evolution in general are *much* bigger (e.g. I didn't include things like virology, or bacteriology, or evidences from medicine, or evidence from how pests evolve in response to pesticides, or evidence from lab experiments using fast-reproducing organisms like fruit flies and other insects, etc. etc.).


However, a bigger point is this: while all of these independently are evidence of the model of human evolution, when considered *together*, and with the fossil evidence, they get even stronger. For example, the molecular clock places the split from other apes at about 6 million years ago, which is consistent with when these early humans first appear in the fossil record. And the split between New World and Old World primates suggested by the structure and genetic locations of photopigment proteins, is further confirmed by the molecular and fossil evidence.

Hope that answers your question.

Answer 2

Oh come on!!! Where do you get these notions that there's virtually no evidence?! Who told you that? There bundles of evidence!!! The fossil record, DNA... How is that virtually no evidence? If you choose to ignore that evidence, that's different to their being no evidence! It is extinct in the way that most things have become extinct. The environment changed so the animals changed to suit the new environment. Why would the old, unsuited thing survive? It's common sense! You obviously have no idea what evolution actually says do you? Why don't you at least learn about something before you start criticising it? Otherwise you just come across as an idiot.

Answer 3

The best evidence is molecular homologies. The similarities between our DNA and those of all great apes are striking. The next is the fossil record. We can see the transition from early primates to people in the fossils. The next would be anatomical homologies. We share the same basic bone structures as all mammals and an almost exact homology with apes. These are not conjectures, these are basic facts that you can look into for yourself. Creationism is a conjecture but I prefer to call it The Speculation of Creation.

Answer 4

I consider this to be truly compelling evidence.

"We've known for a long time that we humans share common ancestry with the other great apes—gorillas, orangs, chimps, and bonobos. But there's an interesting problem here. We humans have 46 chromosomes; all the other great apes have 48. In a sense, we're missing a pair of chromosomes, two chromosomes. How did that happen?

Well, is it possible that in the line that led to us, a pair of chromosomes was simply lost, dropping us from 24 pairs to 23? Well, the answer to that is no. The loss of both members of a pair would actually be fatal in any primate. There is only one possibility, and that is that two chromosomes that were separate became fused to form a single chromosome. If that happened, it would drop us from 24 pairs to 23, and it would explain the data.

Here's the interesting point, and this is why evolution is a science. That possibility is testable. If we indeed were formed that way, then somewhere in our genome there has to be a chromosome that was formed by the fusion of two other chromosomes. Now, how would we find that? It's easier than you might think.

Every chromosome has a special DNA sequence at both ends called the telomere sequence. Near the middle it has another special sequence called the centromere. If one of our chromosomes was formed by the fusion of two ancestral chromosomes, what we should be able to see is that we possess a chromosome in which telomere DNA is found in the center where it actually doesn't belong, and that the chromosome has two centromeres. So all we have to do is to look at our own genome, look at our own DNA, and see, do we have a chromosome that fits these features?

We do. It's human chromosome number 2, and the evidence is unmistakable. We have two centromeres, we have telomere DNA near the center, and the genes even line up corresponding to primate chromosome numbers 12 and 13. "

Answer 5

DNA sequencing. A short quote from the article:

"The nonsynonymous changes (functionally important), like synonymous changes (functionally much less important), show chimpanzees and humans to be most closely related, sharing 99.4% identity at nonsynonymous sites and 98.4% at synonymous sites. On a time scale, the coding DNA divergencies separate the human–chimpanzee clade from the gorilla clade at between 6 and 7 million years ago and place the most recent common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees at between 5 and 6 million years ago."

This has been replicated by numerous studies.

Answer 6

If you follow the progression of bone structure back as we develop, and we know we have, you will find a regression from our present state of structure to one that shares the same arrangement as one that will progress to ape.

It's not possible to recover every step of a skeletal form. It just isn't. Bones in nature, though found, are rare. Bones that are thousands to hundreds of thousands of years old are even rarer.

But There is more empirical Evidence in that than there is in the "one day it just was" argument.

Answer 7

Three things to start with:

The thousands of skeletal remains found that resemble the human bone structure - but also resemble the chimp bone structure.

The fact that we share 96% of our DNA with chimps (if you don't accept this argument you must stop watching CSI now).

Have you ever seen George Bush's ears?

Answer 8

Compare Deoxyribonucleic acid

Answer 9

DNA analysis shows we broke with chimps about 10 million years ago. The difference between human and chimp DNA is around 2.7%

Answer 10

What you are asking for would fill a library.

Look in your text books for hominid fossil record.


In the mean time look at three photographs, one of a chimp, one of George W. Bush and one of Charlotte Church. See the progression?

Answer 11

There's plenty, but here's a good start...

http://www.livescience.com/health/top10_missinglinks-1.html