How did humans evolve from apes? What caused apes to evolve? And why aren't apes now turning into humans?

Question

How did humans evolve from apes? What caused apes to evolve? And why aren't apes now turning into humans?

Answer 1

There always have been multiple species of Apes since long before the common ancestor with humans and Chimps.  They don't all evolve into humans for the same reason they don't all evolve into orangutans.  There is nothing special about humans as far as evolution is concerned.  That and the niche is already full.

Answer 2

THAT IS COMPLETELY FALSE ! or at least not yet determined. hence, the 'missing' link. we do not know whether or not we evolved from them mostly because we do not have enough sufficient evidence. but we are VERY similiar to them.

heres what i believe;

humans did NOT evolve from apes, we simply share a common ancestor [the missing link] with them [the apes].

what caused our ancestors to evolve? well, there are MANY factors. overall however we had to have been reproductively isolated from each other, and therefore two branches of new species emerged; humans and apes.

and apes now suddenly evolving into humans somewhat contradicts the theory of evolution. we are now two completely different species. thats like saying why arent horses turning into zebras all of a sudden? if the apes did evolve at all, they would probably evolve into a new species, not into humans.

Answer 3

Standing on two legs helped, having fingers and an opposite position thumb helped, being able to make a wide variety of sounds helped, being in a group helped but it would have to go back to the mother/child relationship that made a difference just as it makes a difference today. Man was born....out of love.

Answer 4

Apes are presently changing into fish and birds and gophers.  Life is always changing.  Just because you can't see it change doesn't mean it isn't happening all around you all the time.

You have to ask yourself the question:  Are you exactly like your parents in every way?  Are your genetics exactly like theirs?  If there is any difference between you and your parents, then you are witnessing evolution - change.  Your species is changing into an ape or a god - who knows where the change will take us.

Answer 5

That's the $1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.0... question.

Answer 6

The idea that man evolved from an ape is completely false, and is itself laughable.

It is not supported by any evidence whatsoever.

All hominid fossils are clearly human or clearly ape.

Evolution requires the creation of new genetic information. The proposed mechanism is mutations, yet all observed mutations are information neutral or lossy.

All hominid fossils are clearly ape or clearly human. History is full of frauds and over-enthusiastic claims of anthropologists

Man was created as man. We are very different to all apes/monkeys and there is no evidence that we evolved at all.

The evidence does not support he idea that we are evolved from an ape. All hominid fossils are clearly human or clearly ape.

History is full of frauds and wishful thinking in regard to alleged missing links:

Piltdown man – fraud

Java man - a few teeth, and a few skull and bone fragments

Nebraska man - a pigs tooth

Australopithecene (Lucy) - portrayed with human like hands and feet despite the fact that it is known to have ape like hands and feet, and to have been a knuckle walker.

To believe we evolved from an ape requires an awful lot of faith! It flies in the face of the evidence, and of scientific knowledge.

http://creationontheweb.com/content/view...

Answer 7

Throw in the ambiquity of a lot of time, - and some people say that's the solution.

I guess we evolved laughter too.

Answer 8

I didn't evolve from an ape!! I don't believe that c**p.

Answer 9

Humans are part of the hominid family. They are both part of and descended from them. The process of this development is called evolution. In brief, this means that new species develop and expand as they are better at dealing with their environment then others. See: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/evo...

for a discussion of the evolution process.

The hominids include humans and the apes. They are part of the family Hominidae, of the order Primate. Humans did not "descend from the apes" We share a common ancestor with them and are considered "cousins." 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. In other words we're related. DNA is today used to show how closely people are related (as in determining paternity) and to determine if people were at a crime scene (as a means to determine guilt or innocence). It also is used to determine how long ago species split off from each other.

The split from the apes is put at 8 million years ago. That's based both on the fossil remains and the know rate of change for DNA. The first bipedal hominids (walking on two feet) is 4 million years ago. The first known bipedal hominids were the Australopithecus. ("Southern Ape") Current thinking is a population became isolated due to volcanic action or climatic change. This created a "hothouse" of evolution that eventually lead to us.

Notice we're 8 million years away from the split. Both apes and humans have evolved since then. For apes to become human means they'd have to "devolve" back to the split then follow the path humans took. Given the number of accidents, mutations and alternate possibilities, it's doubtful the end result would be us. However, if you wait 16 million years, maybe something will change.

A note about evolution being "only a theory." In science "theory" means the same as "explanation." Hence, critics are really saying "But it's only an explanation."

Now "missing links." This is only a red herring tossed out to confuse things. The human lineage is well known with each species following another. Do you demand the "missing link" when shown a person's baby picture? No, you understand human growth and development. Creationists want you to believe there are apes, then humans and somewhere between there is a "missing link." That's not even close to how evolution works.

Answer 10

Humans did not evolve from apes as we know them today.  We evolved from our specific ancestors who were ape-like.  There are many species of primates and it depends on their environment how and when each species is selected for evolutionary change.  For example, when the tropical forests of Africa became drier, the landscape changed into savanna.  This is why our ancestors mated with the other primates who could run faster - there were no more trees to hide in and they were all in danger of being eaten by predators.  So, you see, long tree swinging arms became less important than than long swinging legs.  Over time, the survivors produced offspring with traits which were evolutionarily selected for (this is the process of natural selection).

The primates that did not evolve the way we did, simply had no need to change - they were surviving and still do just fine the way they are.

Answer 11

First of all we never did evolved from apes, god created everything on this earth in it's own image. Our image is that of Jesus Christ, and not that of a monkey and or gorilla.

Answer 12

I don't think they did. Theres still no proven link

Answer 13

The whole theory about Apes evolving into humans was discovered by a man called Charles Darwin. He argued that life began with very simple cells that later developed into different species that we can see today.

As a result, over a long period of time, species change into humans and so this may be the reason that apes and not changing yet but not everyone believes in this theory.

Answer 14

This is not a 1 to 1 change.  That is, apes did not evolve INTO anything.  That is a SUMMARY of Darwin's work.  A bad summary.  Read Darwin's Origin of the Species, the Voyage of the Beagle, and the Descent of Man for a first hand account of his thinking.  More recent books on evolution include Shubin's The Inner Fish and Benton, Michael J.  2005.  Vertebrate Paleontology.  Oxford, England: Blackwell Science, LTD.

It takes millions of years for small changes, which is termed evolution, to result into a new form.  Evolution is basically the result of four (4) processes.  (1) mutation (of genes), (2) genetic drift, (3) natural selection,  and (4) probability.

All of the following may be found on Wikipedia.  And it is fairly accurate.

In population genetics, genetic drift (or more precisely allelic drift) is the evolutionary process of change in the allele frequencies (or gene frequencies) of a population from one generation to the next due to the phenomena of probability (randomness) in which purely chance events determine which alleles (variants of a gene) within a reproductive population will be carried forward while others disappear.  (wikipedia)

Mutations can be caused by copying errors (like copying errors on a computer floppy disc when either the data or the disc becomes corrupted)  in the genetic material during cell division, by exposure to ultraviolet or ionizing radiation, chemical mutagens, or viruses, or can occur deliberately under cellular control during processes such as hypermutation.  In multicellular organisms, mutations can be subdivided into germ line mutations, which can be passed on to descendants, and somatic mutations, which are not transmitted to descendants in animals. (wikipedia)

Mutations create variations in the gene pool. Less favorable (or deleterious) mutations can be reduced in frequency in the gene pool by natural selection, while more favorable (beneficial or advantageous) mutations may accumulate and result in adaptive evolutionary changes.

Natural selection is the process by which favorable heritable traits become more common in successive generations of a population of reproducing organisms, and unfavorable heritable traits become less common.  (wikipedia)

The above is the basis of evolutionary change.  Please be aware, evolution is not linear.  That is, it is not in a straight line.  It jumps from A to C to A to Z, and so forth, depending on which changes benefit the organism over time.  Sometimes, even the positive adaptations are selected against.  And all of this is based on probabilistic models.  So, to understand this process more clearly, complete as much coursework as possible in statistical methodology and probability.  Probability is much more involved than the simple tossing of a coin.  Although, often, it comes down to that.  [Emphasis and parentheticals mine.]

Answer 15

we evolved in a different direction and are still evolving, this takes millions of years and who can say what apes will evolve into. same with humans we are evolving at a quicker rate now than ever in the past. Look at average height in humans as an example. No creature will ever finish evolving as long as habitats remain for them to exist in. It's down to natural selection an exterior elements such as food, climate etc.

Answer 16

Evolution is an all-encompassing word, which makes it very easy to be misled. “Evolution is slow changes over time”, is one of the most popular explanations. Its always shown in the form of micro evolution, which is changes in creatures within their genetic code, for example a great dane and a chihuahua and a wolf are all breeds of Dog. This means that they came from the same gene pool, their basic design pattern is the same and the differences are in the selection of traits, such as size, colour, length of limbs temperament etc. the genetic code does not take on some kind of new design information it simply takes choices from those existing. This is true in Darwin’s finches, its true in all animal kinds, and its true for us humans from midgets to giants, and from white to black. No one is better or more evolved than the other. Design information for each Kind is all from the same gene code. There are outside forces that sometimes cause these switches to take place, Isolated breeding, climates, altitudes, natural disasters, and some natural selection. Mutations can also take place like missing limbs, extra limbs, malfunctioning glands, etc these are called negative mutations. It is still taught however that positive mutations occur ie, new designs can accidentally come into existence within the genetic code and slowly get improved upon until they become a complete intricate functioning design, eg; the eye or wings, However this is hopeful philosophy. Every part in the make up of every system in every creature comes from design information already in its genetic code. Quoted proofs for evolutionary theory fall into one of these categories; Proving natural selection, Proofs for mutations ( loss, duplication, or mixing up of existing information), Conclusions sited as facts, & Philosophical Conjectures, foundational only if you have a humanistic World view ( A religious acceptance of naturalism, ie denial of anything beyond 3 dimensions), Which is obviously a Philosophical Paradigm.

Darwin neither new or dreamed that there could be a genetic code of design that every living part needs to be formed. He postulated that a small bump could be passed on and on through offspring and be added too every now and again and eventually become an eye without any design, through natural selection ie (that trait helping the creature live when all others died).

The accepted idea in the GTE was that a simple cell was formed in the pre mordial soup (rain on rocks for millions of years) and that started us all off. (The living cell however is more complex in design than the space shuttle, but how was Darwin to know that in the 1800's), and of-course rock and water don’t have DNA.

To believe in Darwin’s evolution however you must first believe that the above changes in animal kinds can go beyond the genetic code. This is called Macro evolution and is actually only conjecture, not real science. Only micro evolution and speciation is real science.

I would ask you can something come from nothing, or could it come from something we don’t see or understand. Do chemicals go up the scale or down? Is design information introduced when we grow our technology (of-course it is). Yet we call it evolution…and it is…we see new information all the time.But what you are asked to believe in many of the conjectures in the General theory of evolution is not real evolution.   This is why I say it confuses people.

Generally people show you their conclusions and call them evidence. You would do very well to understand the difference between evidence and peoples conclusions, and also learn creation science from creation scientists not your evolution teacher or religiously zealot evolutionists. You need to look at the facts in front of us all and learn to make good analytical conclusions, preferably unbiased.

Check out.         http://www.answersingenesis.org/

     http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aiia/a...

or get a book by Phillip E Johnson, called Darwin on trial.

Or Refuting evolution by Jonathan Sarfati.

Answer 17

Good question but i don't know the answer, sorry...

Answer 18

You must find this out for yourself.

First finish high school. Go to a reasonable University. Study. Learn to do research. Read Anthropology = get answer!

Answer 19

I assume the Boris quote above is an hiliarious joke.  You know, in the lack of any "proven link" between humans and a fictional father-figure in the sky.  

Look, evolution as a mechanism is so bleeding simple it's amazing there are still people who don't understand it.  It's the *implications* that should be blowing fuses.  

To take your questions in order:-

1)  Random chance mutations in apes gave rise to apes who were more "people-like".  Those apes survived and bred and, being well-suited to their environment, survived to breed again.  The cumulative effect of each generation's differences built and built and built.  

2)  Nothing caused apes to evolve.  Evolution is happening in everything, all the time, as random mutations develop all the time in random organisms.  Nothing "causes" evolution, there is no "story" to it; there is only random chance finding favour in specific environments.  

3) All creatures evolve continually.  However, a creature that is perfectly suited to its niche in life will not accumulate any great changes through evolution (because the difference in survival rates will be low).

Mind you, while all this perfectly self-evident logic is reasonably compelling -  on the other hand, Lola just doesn't believe all this c**p, and who are the greatest minds in human history to argue?

Answer 20

Not again.

This is absolutely incredibly stupid as a question. Anyone who asks questions like this is either living in a remote area -- or getting all science from someone who couldn't pass the fourth grade.

If you actually want to know something about evolution, you should sit down with a good biology-zoology primer - or a basic description of what the theory of evolution says.

Answer 21

humans evolved from a specific species of apes whose name i keep forgetting, but the reason why apes now arent evolving into humans is because they are biologically perfect and natural selection says that they don't need to evolve. The reason why humans evolved was because our ancestors continuously moved from a type of environment to a completely different environment and we needed to adapt to the nomadic lifestyle or die...

or at least thats what i think

Answer 22

Evolution is happening all the time. It's pretty slow so don't hold your breath.

Apes other than humans won't evolve into humans in the same way that your siblings children won't evolve into your  own children. The link between apes such as chimps, gorillas and orang outangs and ourselves was many millions of years ago.

Each of these species won't evolve into any other related species, though they are all capable of producing new species in a few millions years time.

So humans won't evolve into chimps, just as chimps won't evolve into humans.

The apes known as humans most likely evolved from a small group of african apes which suffered extreme selection pressure some 4 million odd years ago. Communication and thinking skills rapidly developed because those extreme conditions favoured such attributes. Speciation can be relatively rapid under such conditions.

Answer 23

first i want to say that people who are so arrogant on their own beliefs and trying to shove them on to other people are very ignorant. evolution has never been proven nor religions had prove anything of the orgin of life. evolution is still a theory, and there has been so many facts that had deny parts of this theory, same thing goes to religion. if any of you "sicentific" people think you are right, you should, and must, know that to prove a theory, you must have enough evident, and theres never been enough evident for evolution but only similarities in DNA, but they do not prove anything. differences in DNA means an alternation in the arrangement and pairs of DNA, and to do that, something massive must had happened to that, but nothing is there to prove it, nothing. people need to stop making conclusions because of their arrogance and listen to others, because we are not all correct, and so was Darwin.