I am an evolutionist not a creationist, but please give me an answer to this so I can use it to...?

Question

silence certain people I know!

"If we all evolved from apes why do we still have apes?"

Your help is appreciated.

Answer 1

take two bananas and have a lie down

Answer 2

There are and have been, since the time of common ancestors with apes, several species of apes. Only one species can evolve in any particular direction.  There were in fact many more species of apes around the time of the common ancestor.  We didn't evolve from all the apes that existed.  Only one of the lineages gave rise to humans and chimps .  It left the trees and evolved into a bipedal land dwelling animal that required significant selection to change the animal into an ideal bipedal form. That selection pressure didn't exist for the species of apes that lead lifestyles similar to what they had always done. The branch that led to chimps retained the ability to climb trees and bipedal locomotion was not an as great an advantage to them.  Their selection pressure didn't include all our adaptations to upright walking.    The branch that led to chimps needed to maintain the tree climbing and our ancestors didn't rely on climbing trees.   We needed to walk large distances bipedally.

Answer 3

To make sure the human race keeps going if were all wiped out.

Answer 4

Yeah we didn't evolve from apes.  We evolved from less-evolved apes from which apes evolved as well, hence the existence of both at once.  Different mutations became predominant in the different species and that's why they're so different today.

www.PBS.org has some interesting articles about the chain of proof of evolution for more information about Lucy and stuff if you want to know more.

Answer 5

Because we never evolved from apes but there is an evolution process that is going the other way. As humanity rejects Jesus Christ they become more and more like the beast and worse because beast only kill for food these human beast kill for lust.

http:/www.readytobefree.com

http://www.endtime.com

Answer 6

I think the answer would be that we shared a common ancestor.  They are related like cousins, we did not come from them, that is the theory.  They branched one way, we changed to another.  That there is variety in species is more of a argument for evolution, not against.

Answer 7

We didn’t evolve from apes, we evolved from a common ancestor. We are more like cousins.

But it is still possible for a species that evolved from another species to still be living. Neanderthals and Homo sapiens lived at the same time, as did other races of humans, such as Homo erectus and Homo ergaster, and others. They are more like off-shoots of the same branch. This is because evolution is a slow, gradual process.

A more modern example of evolution is in our dental records. Wisdom teeth are vestigial characteristics. At one point in human history, they served a purpose. Humans ate nuts, grains, and other hard foods, and we needed those extra teeth for chewing. Then we began preparing foods and they weren’t as hard to chew. Over time, our jaws (and the rest of our head) have gotten smaller. Now, because of that, many people have to have their wisdom teeth removed because there is no longer room in our mouths. Also, people are now born without wisdom teeth. That doesn’t exactly make us a different species, but humans are once again evolving. People with wisdom teeth are living at the same time as people without wisdom teeth.

Answer 8

Hi....

We evolved from a branch of apes that do not exist now!

Chimps and the apes you see today, are happy in their niche, fitted into their environment, which means they don't need to evolve much, hence are still here today!

Nature and Evolution works by survival of the fittest, if a creature 'can' evolve, it will and suit any changes to the environment around it, but some cannot change or cannot change quick enough and die out!

The branches that we evolved from, evolved to the next step, then the remaining ones died out, then the evolved ones later evolved more, because of environmental changes, the existing ones died out again etc etc.

Step by step, leading to us, who are actually changing ourselves in evolutionary terms, because 'we' are changing our 'own' environment!

Although, it is probably our 'set' Evolution to do so!!!

Answer 9

I am not sure if I am an evolutionist or creationist,but I think if Charles Darwin's theory of evolutionism is true that we eventually evolved from apes. But the recessive gene making an ape still lives thus the ape still lives. We are just a lucky break. I guess we could all be apes right now.

Answer 10

Gravy B is RIGHT, ask Thumper, he is another wise man

Answer 11

The truth is, evolution is impossible, and not one shred of evidence exists.  That's why it's called a "theory".  In fact, it goes against everything we know to be true.  If we know that a pine tree will never make an orange, how can we expect it to make goats?  And if there was some catastrophic event that forced monkeys to turn into humans....  then there wouldn't be monkeys!!!

Answer 12

I'm afraid you will never receive a fully scientific answer to this question, guessing is what remains.

Answer 13

evolution is a slow process, the apes evolved from fish yet we still have fish!! humans have only been around for 10,000 years (could be more not sure) yet the world is 10,000,000 years old (again not sure of the accuracy of my Numbers)

the  point is we are a small part of the worlds history, apes are a small part of our history, fish are a small part of ape history.

in a million years the same question will be asked but instead of referring to apes they will be referring the man!! deep

Answer 14

because they were still strong enough to survive, their evolved relatives however were stronger and continued to adapt

evolution can make 2 steps, it can change to path that makes a species dominant or it can change to a path that splits into 2 species that can live together

theres nothing to say that one cannot then go on and evolve further

monkeys after all have higher development in their musclature

We are also omnivores so just because a human type split happened, there was still food for both so the lesser animal didnt die out.

that said, youll never silence the nutters, theyll just say the bible says or scientists cant prove

a simplified theory of evolution is like this

if we suddenly discovered an island of humans where the men were gorgeous and had huge nobs and the women were beutifull and had hige b***s and could also have a baby in 6 months, within a 100 years you would see beutifull people on every street because theyd have kids quickly, theyd get married easy and also have quick kids, rinse repeat

germs evolve all the time, its why antibiotics are not given for every cold because if you wiped out the ones it kills quickly youre left with the ones that are immune, evolution

hope that helps

Answer 15

this is a lil off the point, forgive me, but i have a hunch that the creationists are actually(i mean without awareness btw!) angry about the competitive theory of evolution which, from what i have read recently is increasingly being augmented by a CO-OPERATIVE theory of evolution which is far less 'hostile' to a spiritual understanding of science!

still - i am being WAAAYYY generous there, huh? and those who believe that all of the bible is literally true are clearly more into cultist sectarianism(a territorial, defensive reaction to unaddressed personal fears that have NOTHING to do with spirituality, science, truth or even the point in question!) than they are into their own religion.

i always ask the literalists how come they haven't given away all their stuff yet and suggest they perhaps follow the personal instructions of their book before they start getting judgemental about the bigger questions.

=)

Answer 16

We didn't.  Humans and apes have a common ancestor, like english and french.  They both evolved from Latin, but while they have many similarities, they are distinct languages today, and latin is a "dead" language (extinct).  We know about latin from books, but nobody actually speaks it in normal everyday conversation.  Same thing with apes and humans, we both evolved from a common ancestor which we know about from fossils, but none of them are alive today.

Answer 17

Err, we are ALL apes!

Just different species of ape.

And it goes further than that.....

How many fingers and toes do you and all your relatives have?

How many do dogs, cats, horses, birds etc have?

FIVE on each limb!

We ALL are descended from ONE five digit creature!

So where is the three, four or six fingered creatures????

Answer 18

There is no such thing as an "evolutionist". Evolution is not a belief system and does not require faith; it does just fine with facts and empirical observation.

Your question demonstrates no previous effort, on your part, to understand the concept of evolution.

Would you answer a question regarding BMW's if it were phrased:

"Since BMW's (British Motor Works) come from England, why doesn't England have the Autobahn?"

There is a tautology in the original statement rendering any conclusion erroneous.

Anyone attempting to seriously discuss BMW's must at least know that they are built in Muenchen.

This is why your question regarding evolution deserves no serious answer.