evolution

@mariner68 (1276)
India
January 8, 2007 10:49am CST
If monkeys have evolved into human beings, then how are some monkeys still around?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@WebGal (48)
• United States
8 Jan 07
Evolution affects isolated populations of individuals, not entire species. Imagine: a monkey on one side of a river has a random mutation that makes it a little smarter. Its better brains make it better able to survive. It breeds and passes the trait on to its offspring. They are a little better at survival, and tend to outlive their peers by finding more food or escaping predators more effectively; over time the 'better brain' trait becomes prevalent in the entire population. Meanwhile, the monkeys on the other side of the river never had that mutation; they remained as ordinary monkeys. They manage to get by without the 'better brain' mutation and continue to live and breed. Humans followed an evolutionary path from an ancestor great ape, and that path involved thousands of little changes. From one change to the next, there wasn't much difference; just a little closer to our present form. Over time, however, those changes added up to produce us. Meanwhile, other separate populations of great apes followed their own evolutionary paths from the same ancestor. Their combined evolutionary differences turned them into modern-day chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and gorillas. Each population may have been separated from another by natural barriers like rivers, mountain ranges or deserts, and while each sprang from the same ancestor, they all became different over time.
2 people like this
@jricbt (1454)
• Brazil
8 Jan 07
Nice message. Could not have put it better.
1 person likes this
@Wachied (123)
• Indonesia
8 Jan 07
may be that is the human taht evolved into some kind of monkey....WOW..do you believe it i find the new...evolution species human intomonkey....Hey...who is in this... sites...human or monkey...are you human or monkey...???he...he...he...:-)
2 people like this
@Lydia1901 (16351)
• United States
11 Jan 07
I think it's because not all of them got evolved into humans.
1 person likes this