According to the Evolution theory, what did humans evolve from? what is the name of the common ancestor...?

Question

between humans and apes? I read people saying that humans and apes share a common ancestor and apes are not our ancestors. So I want to know what is the name of this common ancestor and what did we evolve from.

what did we evolve from? name the last species that existed before humans evolve of it.

icarus62, I believe in the evolution theory, this is why I'm asking. I want to know.

OK Homo erectus was also a Human species! I want to know the species before Homo erectus, that was the origin for evolution of humans.

nola_cajun, thanks for sharing....before you have said this, I asked this in Anthropology and here's the link:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AlvvMtw_qCEEKeGuUEelhz_sy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071224144447AAijbHL

I ask this in here so to see what yuo guys here think and how much you know and can you help me know more....It just annoys me that some people just comment to point out without really adding to the question. If the question bothers you, ignore it and don't answer it! spare yourself from disturbance...Dammit!

Answer 1

We don't know. If you think that means it didn't happen, think again.

By the way, we *are* apes. Our closest relatives are chimpanzees, and the most recent common ancestor of both humans and chimpanzees was approximately 6 million years ago.

The way to understand our origins is to remember that living organisms are in a state of constant change - It's not that evolution *can* occur, but that it *must* occur, simply because there is no mechanism in living organisms to ensure perfect, flawless reproduction for ever.

Suppose you could study a population of chimpanzees in the jungle, on a timescale of millions of years. Clearly, each individual only lives a few decades, so the population is constantly being succeeded by individuals which are different from their parents, because reproduction is imperfect - and remember, this is *inevitable*. It can't *not* happen. All the time this population is inter-breeding, the genes are getting mixed together, and only genes which work well with all other chimpanzee genes will tend to get passed down to successive generations (because individuals with genes that don't work well together will tend not to survive and reproduce).

However, suppose that circumstances arise which cause a group to become genetically isolated from other chimpanzees. This could be as a result of an accident of geography (e.g. an impassable river) or breeding preference or simply great distance. There will develop two distinct groups of chimpanzees which can never again exchange genes, because they have become different enough that mating will not produce viable offspring. This is what biologists define as speciation - i.e. the population has forever split into two distinct groups. Biologists have observed many instances of speciation, so there is no doubt that it occurs.

Assuming that both groups continue to survive, it is again *inevitable* that they will diverge genetically - There is no possible way that both groups, isolated and independent from each other, can change in exactly the same ways, and the longer they continue to breed, the more different they will become. Over millions of years, given that the rate of genetic change via mutation tends to remain fairly constant, the two groups will become as distinct as today's chimpanzees and humans are from each other, and from their most recent common ancestor.

All this is based on what we *know* is true - it's not supposition or guesswork, and remember it's not just possible, it absolutely *has* to happen, because there is no mechanism in biology to make reproduction a 100% perfect, flawless process.

NB: The reason we're classed as apes is that there is no valid way to group all the other apes together that doesn't also apply to humans. In other words, whatever criteria you use to define what is an ape, in order to include chimpanzees, gorillas, orangs and gibbons, humans will also fit those criteria. Indeed, chimpanzees are more closely related to humans than to gorillas, and gorillas are more closely related to humans and chimpanzees than they are to orangs, so any classification that separated humans out from those other apes would not make any sense.

Zalem: OK, thanks for the clarification.

Answer 2

well lets look up "evolve" in the dictionary: 1. to develop gradually. 2. to give off or emit, as odors or vapors. 3. to come forth gradually into being. 4.. to undergo or develop bya process of evolution.
now lets look up "theory" 5. a particular conception or view of somethng to be done or of the method of doing it. 6. a GUESS or conjecture. 7. contemplation or speculation.

The idea is only a hypothesis,that has not been proven.

Now that we have a defination, let me answer your question.
Since the law of thermodynamics states that the order of the universe is going from order to disorder (the opposite of evo.)
I would have to say that this is the way HUMANS have always been. We have mutation, adaption, etc....But as far as a human "evolving" from a different species-it is IMPOSSIBLE.
And the majority of scientists are starting to agree with this.
Do some research, you will be surprised how many scientist that use to believe in the "theory" no longer do. And 'LUCY"
was descredited, fraudulent. They put together bones from 2 different species. Unfortunatley, they have not removed that one from the textbooks, yet. But look how long it took for them to remove the picture of a human embroy/pig embroy from our biology books, over 70 years. The man convicted of this was Ernst Haeckel (1868). look it up. we are wonderfully created by Almighty God.

Answer 3

If you look at an anthropolical tree for humans, the "homo" group is categorized into late homo, middle homo, early homo and before that were Australopiths- and for them there are many sub categories as well. Before Homo erectus was Homo ergaster. If you want to know what the earliest "thing" we started evolvoing from it was Sahelanthropus tchadensis. The were human like, looked similar to apes, had small canine teeth etc.

O forgot to add that the first "homo" was Homo habillis. This is where "Lucy" is from- the small ape/human like being that was bipedal. And yes apes stayed as apes, but whatever group of primates we did evolve from it was because they decided to get down from the trees. Think about it- if we stayed in the trees, we would have tails and our thumbs would look different.

Answer 4

First off, humans are apes.

Our common ancestor with Chimps and Bonobos was around about 6 million years ago. Homo erectus was the species that Homo sapiens evolved from. Before that there were other species in the hominid line. Names shouldn't be important, though. They're given by humans.

Answer 5

> what did humans evolve from?
Our immediate predecessors were Homo sapiens. They looked like us, but didn't think like us. The change came with a "cultural revolution" about 50,000 years ago.

> apes are not our ancestors
We're still classified as "great apes." Our last common ancestor with the chimpanzee would be about five million years ago, and it would most certainly be called a great ape, if you had one sitting in front of you now.

Answer 6

The immediate ancestor of Homo sapien sapiens (modern humans) was homo erectus. Yes, quite a terrible name.

I strongly encourage you to read (at least the first 150 pages) of The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins. It was published in 2004.

Answer 7

humans and apes used to be what your asking about. humans evolved into humans because of some situation like food or climate but apes did not need to so stayed as apes. i want to know what you want to know to but no one knows its the missing link.

Answer 8

Take today's electronic technology as an example, it is silicon based.
Biology on earth, is DNA based. All living forms on earth are rooted from the same DNA and evolve from there.

On the other places in the Cosmo, there are other technology based on something entirely different and depend totally on their local.

Our DNA technology is so awesome, it creates smart, stupid and everything in between to put together this world of ours.

Answer 9

some have answered quite well ..

but next time u have a question like this .. post it in the Anthropology section for more accurate responses

-------------






it doesn't bother me .. I like coming across such questions .. .. just thought i'd point out what section would be better to ask in .. Tho u already did so

=)

Answer 10

A common ancestor, way back when...and no we aren't really born of apes, most of the conclusive evidence points to us evolving ALONGSIDE them.