| | | quote | Originally posted by rpro:
My question is, if man evolved from apes, why do we still have apes? |
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If single cell organisms evolved into multi-cell organisms, why do we still have single-cell organisms?
"Humans did not evolve from modern apes, but humans and modern apes shared a common ancestor, a species that no longer exists. Because we share a recent common ancestor with chimpanzees and gorillas, we have many anatomical, genetic, biochemical, and even behavioral similarities with these African great apes. We are less similar to the Asian apes orangutans and gibbons and even less similar to monkeys, because we share common ancestors with these groups in the more distant past.
Evolution is a branching or splitting process in which populations split off from one another and gradually become different. As the two groups become isolated from each other, they stop sharing genes, and eventually genetic differences increase until members of the groups can no longer interbreed. At this point, they have become separate species. Through time, these two species might give rise to new species, and so on through millennia.
In other words, the "ape-like" animals that eventually gave rise to humans split up into several branches, all of which evolved in different directions. Some of those lines became extinct; others survived. One of the surviving groups includes you and me. Other survivors include the various species of monkeys and apes we find today."
[This message has been edited by Boondawg (edited 07-15-2011).]
