• Question: If humans evolve from apes, why are there still apes!?

    Asked by issymaple to Aled, Ellie, Fiona, Kev, Willem on 10 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Eleanor Parker

      Eleanor Parker answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Hi issymaple,
      Millions of years ago there was an ape-like creature that over time evolved into lots of different ape-like creatures, some of these were humans and some different types of ape. So the “apes” that humans evolved from are not like the types of ape that are around today, but a different ancestor that humans and apes share 🙂

    • Photo: Fiona Heesen

      Fiona Heesen answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Hi issymaple,

      I have sometimes thought this myself! Reading Ellie’s answer though makes perfect sense!

      Thanks for the question,

      Fiona

    • Photo: Kevin Arbuckle

      Kevin Arbuckle answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Nice, short, and simple answer from Ellie. To add to it, remember that evolution isn’t like a series of species evolving from ‘lower’ species into ‘higher’ species, it’s more like a family tree. We have older family members from which we (and our parents, brothers, sisters, and cousins) come from, but our parents and grandparents still exist even though we do.

      Also, our brothers, sisters and cousins are all related to us, and they share a common ancestor with us (e.g. parents or grandparents), in the same way as other apes and monkeys are related to us (because we have common ancestors). But we would never ask why we still have cousins if we came from the same ‘place’. The same idea explains why there are still apes if we evolved from an ape. Both ourselves and other apes (that are alive today) evolved from a common ancestor that was an ape, but we evolved along different lines and so it makes sense that other apes still exist.

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