If humans evolved from apes, how can you explain the existence of apes and other primates on Earth today?
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M$4 Answers
A good parallel question that helps explain this is "If domestic dogs evolved from wolves why do we still have wolves today? The answer is evolution does not end one species and begin another, there is no cut off date where one species has in its entirety evolved into a new one. Evolution happens in environmentally directed branches. Modern wolves and domestic dogs have a far older ancestor that both are related to.
Another good explanation is that evolution tends to be very local and not global. A single species may evolve differently into two or more similar and related species over time depending on the specific environment they inhabit on planet Earth.
Evolution is fragmented and based on mutations that, in the perspective of millions of years, are directly related to the specific environment of the evolving species.
I have seen this statement before somewhere else "If modern day Americans evolved from Europeans then why do we still have Europeans? The answer is similar, environment. We live here, they live there and we are both decedents of a common much older ancestor.
A great explanation is that modern man did not evolve from modern apes. Modern apes and modern man both evolved from a common ancestor. That ancestor species is now extinct but both humans and apes are branches of the same tree of evolution based in that common ancestor. We both are cousins of that long ago gone relative.
Perhaps something like the diagram below
PBS.org | Evolution | Frequently Asked Questions
Berkley.edu | Understanding Phylogenies 1
Berkley.edu | Understanding Phylogenies 2
Berkely.edu | Trees Not Ladders
Berkely.edu | Evolution 101
Evolution happens far too slowly to predict what humans will evolve into and which set or sets of humans will evolve at all. So yes there will continue to be human evolution and yes we will likely be that long ago gone common ancestor for two similar but different species in the future. One day we will be the missing link.
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M$In general, a species need not replace its ancestor species. It can, if it's better adapted to the same environment. The two may live together side by side for some time, but eventually if they're competing for resources, one may eliminate the other.
But often, the new species is adapted to some new niche. If it's able to live in a slightly different place, eat a different food, live in different climates, etc. the two species will continue to live in parallel niches.
That's the case with apes and humans. Ground-walking human ancestors evolved from tree-dwelling apes. Humans are not well suited to living in trees: they lack prehensile toes, which are necessary if they're going to move easily from branch to branch. But their toes are well adapted to grasslands, where they can move quickly over even terrain, seeing predators and prey from a distance.
That's just one change. With the hands no longer needed for tree climbing, they were put to different uses, grasping tools. The whole rest of the body is subtly changed, producing a remarkably adaptable species.
Unfortunately, that adaptability makes it possible for humans to push other animals out of EVERY habitat. They've already driven a number of species extinct or to the brink of extinction, and many species of apes are among those.
But that's just one particularly rapacious species. Most species live next to each other, adapted to the different environments they're each best suited for. Sometimes the environment changes, wiping out some species, and presenting new niches for new species to fill. But otherwise, species will often continue for many millions of years. Sometimes they adapt slowly to better fit the environment, or sometimes they can continue unchanged. The fossil record indicates that some species, like crocodiles, have existed largely unchanged. And creatures like stromatolites are largely unchanged from near the origins of life!
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M$And in another billion years there may or may not be anything you would recognize as either ape OR human, since all the different species may have evolved substantially.
One interesting issue is that we humans have learned to protect even our weak members, so odds are greater that even mutations which would weaken us survive into future generations, and Mother Nature's way of selecting only those mutations that increase our survivability is lessened.
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M$