Humans and Apes/monkeys.?

Question

I've often found myself wondering if we truly did evolve from apes. People say "We would have found the apes that haven't evolved yet, so we cannot be related to them". I think thought, that we were the first race of apes, and we evolved the fastest, hense no more of our kind that were apes. Maybe i am just crazy?

Answer 1

Technically we didn't evolve from apes, we ARE apes.  Biologically we belong in a closely related family of apes which includes gorillas and chimpanzees (as well as a number of now extinct species).  When people try to claim there is a "missing link" in the evolution of humans, they are in denial, there is actually a very good fossil record of our ancestral species.

Answer 2

Human evolution is very complicated, so see the link below for the full explanation. The article goes back to the very beginning and is really interesting.

The genetic and archaeological proof for evolution is overwhelming and many people see this evidence as contradicting their religious beliefs, and that is why they claim we didn't "come from monkeys." Evolution happened. It's a fact, and it doesn't need to change one's belief in God or religion.

Think of evolution as a tree branch. Primates all began on the same branch then at one point we split off from them, formed our own branch, and evolved independently. An interesting fact is that our genetic makeup is 99.4% the same as chimpanzees.

Hope the article helps you understand things!

Answer 3

> People say "We would have found the apes that haven't evolved yet, so we cannot be related to them".

This is meaningless. If there are apes, then they obviously evolved to become apes.

> I think thought, that we were the first race of apes, and we evolved the fastest, hense no more of our kind that were apes. Maybe i am just crazy?

Not crazy, just uninformed. This is all incorrect.

Answer 4

As other answers already say, evolution doesn't quite look like that.  With that logic, you could continually ask questions like: where are the "dogs that haven't evolved yet?", or "salmon that haven't evolved yet?", ad nauseum.  

In theory, one pack or band of apes split off from the rest of the apes, and these were the only ones to "evolve" into humans.  As they continued evolving, the apes that were most human-like were better able to compete for food and other resources, and thus were more likely to reproduce.  Eventually it came to a point where humans dominated, and those "apes that hadn't evolved yet" couldn't compete, and ceased to exist.  Does that make sense?

Answer 5

Humans split off from chimpanzee line 3 million years ago. From the ape line 7-8 million years ago and from the monkey line 25 million years ago.

Since then each species has evolve to meet the demands placed on it. Apes are well suited to the environment they now inhabit.Humans are more general in their adaptation and have spread all over the globe.

The classic "Why aren't apes evolving into humans" question misses the fact that apes have been evolving for millions of years. Evolution does not have an end goal, nor does it move in a straight line.

Take a bunch of apes, stick them out on the savanna, and wait a few million years. In most cases, odds are the group will have died off in a few years. However, were they to have survived, you still won't have 'humans."  Mutations, genetic drift, variations in the species and environmental factors that resulted in humans would not be repeated.

Answer 6

Yes, evolution is a one-way street...

It can be understood in reverse, but it moves forward, unpredictably!

It's kind of like, how you cannot put toothpaste back into the tube...