The musings of junior science students on life, the universe, and everything (i.e. science & ethics).
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Question: If we have evolved from the monkeys, shouldn't they be extinct?
Darwin's Evolution theory does not only cover the evolution of man, but of all species, saying that all species are from a common ancestry. This is shown through the Evolution Tree of Life. We are classified as Primates as are all monkeys, apes and chimpanzees. Humans evolved from the same ancestor as the primates through a mutation in a chromosome fusion, causing us to have a different amount of chromosomes then other primates. There are different families of primates classified by their characteristics. These characteristics were changed from the original ancestor, through natural selection, or genetic mutations which cause a genetic change that can be inherited by all descendants. Natural selection and genetic mutations would have caused the evolution branch of different types of monkeys, apes and chimpanzees and we would have evolved from the same ancestor as them., fro