Evolution..do we really come from apes?

Question

We all do agree about the fact that we humans and monkeys have a common ancient beeing but how do you call it? a monkey? an ape?

Answer 1

Great Apes (hominidae) is the category that includes humans, orangutangs, chimps and gorillas.  A few years ago, fossil evidence of a new member of this family (called Pierolapithecus catalaunicus) was found in Spain.  It was touted as possibly being the "missing link" or cocmmon ancester you  refer to.

Answer 2

The common ancestor of humans and apes would be an ape.  This is because, as has been mentioned, we are apes.  Also, as to the population growth mentioned by one of the above people:  The second link you posted was fairly biased from the beginning.  The author of that article had a specific conclusion and set out to prove it.  After all, the plague during medieval europe would not have been the only time that global population growth rates dropped as he seemed to suggest.

Answer 3

We ARE apes. Apes split off from other primates (including monkys), thn split into several specis, including gorrillas, chimps, and us.

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life...

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/bein...

Th critter nam you're looking for is primate.

Answer 4

The ancient being's name was Lester.  Not many people know that.

Answer 5

We are a form of ape - still

Apes and monkeys are different

Answer 6

Does it matter?

We're here now, and we've come a long, long, way

from where-ever it was we started.

Answer 7

no.  see the Bible. Creation stories in Genesis.  Nothing mentioned that Adam and Eve were monkeys.  Sorry.

Answer 8

The common ancestor of all modern apes is an ape.  If you go back farther, the common ancestor would be a monkey.  Monkeys are a diverse group going back quite far.  That common ancestor with apes and monkey is also logically a monkey since apes are essentially a derived form of monkey.  

Many people, even some with degrees in science make the mistake of saying we didn't descend from apes but share common ancestors.  In fact, both are true.  It is also true of monkeys.  Yes, monkeys and apes existed in the past.  You will get corrected by people who really should know better if you say we evolved from apes.  I really don't get how that bit of crazy logic made it into popular science usage.

Answer 9

Let's clear up the language barrier once and for all.

{Apes proper} =/= {monkeys proper}

Apes is the superset. monkeys (chilpanzees) is a subset of apes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape

"Apes are the members of the Hominoidea superfamily of primates, which includes humans. Under the current classification system there are two families of hominoids:

the family Hylobatidae consists of 4 genera and 13 species of gibbons, including the Lar Gibbon and the Siamang, collectively known as the lesser apes.

the family Hominidae consisting of orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans,[1][2] collectively known as the great apes. ".

So we see the following according to scientific jargon.

{Apes=Hominoids} (superfamily)

= {Great Apes=Hominids} U {Lesser Apes=Hylobatids} (family)

{Great Apes=Hominids} (family)

= {Ponginae, Homininae} (subfamily)

{Ponginae} (subfamily)

= {Pongo} (genus)

= {Bornean Orangutan = Pongo pygmaeus, Sumatran Orangutan = Pongo abelii } (species)

{Homininae} (subfamily)

= {Gorilla, Pan, Homo} (genus)

= {Western Gorilla = Gorilla gorilla, Eastern Gorilla = Gorilla beringei  |  Common Chimpanzee = Pan troglodytes, Bonobo (Pygmy Chimpanzee) = Pan paniscus  |  Human = Homo sapiens sapiens } (species)

I left out the intermediate grouping of "tribe Homini" over genus "Pan" and "Homo" in order to keep the expressions simple.

{Lesser Apes=Hylobatids} (family)

= {Hylobates, Hoolock, Symphalangus, Nomascus} (genus)

= {Lar Gibbon or White-handed Gibbon = Hylobates lar, Agile Gibbon or Black-handed Gibbon = Hylobates agilis, Müller's Bornean Gibbon = Hylobates muelleri, Silvery Gibbon = Hylobates moloch, Pileated Gibbon or Capped Gibbon = Hylobates pileatus, Kloss's Gibbon or Mentawai Gibbon or Bilou = Hylobates klossii  |  Western Hoolock Gibbon = Hoolock hoolock,  Eastern Hoolock Gibbon = Hoolock leuconedys  |  Siamang = Symphalangus syndactylus  |  Concolor or Black Crested Gibbon = Nomascus concolor, Eastern Black Crested Gibbon = Nomascus nasutus, White-cheeked Crested Gibbon = Nomascus leucogenys, Yellow-cheeked Gibbon = Nomascus gabriellae} (species)

I guess that as fas the species within the superfamily of Apes goes.

Answer 10

Not according to poulation studies....if we did originate hundreds of thousands or a million years ago, there would be more people on earth than atoms in the universe.

http://www.ldolphin.org/popul.html

http://www.kolbecenter.org/heffner_popul...

Answer 11

Pierolapithecus catalaunicus is currently the most likely common ancestor to humans and apes. He's dated to 13 million years ago.

Monkeys have a more distant relationship to humans and apes. Their line branched out some 25 million years ago. The branch that lead to humans split off from the chimpanzee line some 8 million years ago. Chimpanzees, our closest relative, share a 99% match in DNA. In protein sequencing, the match is closer, no differences at all.  When man's protein sequencing is compared to gorillas there is only two differences in the match with hemoglobin, red blood cells and amino acids. Lastly the antgen-antibody reaction for humans is 97% from chimpanzees compared to 50% for baboons.