• Question: Since we apparently evolved from apes, which I do not believe in, there where "stages" of evolution, these must have involved going from ape, to ape-caveman to caveman to caveman-human to human, but if this evolution is going around, shouldn't we see these type of stages still happening?, like shouldn't there be some ape-caveman people around? And the rest?

    Asked by tosty55 to Aggelos, Andrew, Eileen, Naomi, Shane on 14 Nov 2012. This question was also asked by tkhan.
    • Photo: Andrew Jackson

      Andrew Jackson answered on 14 Nov 2012:


      hi
      the evidence that humans evolved from primates is very strong indeed. The fossil record is great, and clearly shows how our skeleton changed slowly over time until we ended up with our current Homo sapiens shape and form. The reason the other forms, like the neanderthals (cave men types) are not around is that we were better than them, so they died out and we lived – this is the basic way evolution works for all living things.

    • Photo: Naomi Elster

      Naomi Elster answered on 14 Nov 2012:


      We can’t see evolution still happening simply because it takes a very long time for it to happen – millions of years. Most of the evolution theories aren’t that we evolved from the apes we see in the zoo today, but that they and we had a common ancestor many years ago and we evolved at the same time, but evolved differently. So it’s like the chimpanzees are our cousins, not our parents.

      Actually, although it is very rare, sometimes people are born with unusual features that scientists think are “genetic throwbacks” to our ape ancestors. For example, a BBC documentary a few years ago showed a family in Turkey who were quadrupeds – they naturally walked on all fours, like apes. And occassionally you get people with excessive facial hair to the point where they do look more primate than human.

      The evidence that we evolved from primates is there and strong. No one has the right to tell you what to believe but one of the things I learnt the hard way about being a good scientist is that you really shouldn’t ask a question if you’ve already decided what answer you’re going to believe. 🙂

    • Photo: Shane Bergin

      Shane Bergin answered on 14 Nov 2012:


      Evolution happens on a very slow timescale for creatures like humans (homo sapien). We evolved from a creature that is ape like – not actual apes that we see in the zoo. they are another branch of the evolutionary tree.

      you can see evolution happen a faster rate for other forms of life (where life times are much shorter).

      I urge you to read more about it and come up with a point of view based on what you have read. Science is not about trying to trick you into something that you don’t believe. it’s about presenting facts and drawing conclusions based on fact

    • Photo: Eileen Diskin

      Eileen Diskin answered on 16 Nov 2012:


      The evolution of things like apes takes a long time. This is in large part because apes have a long life span.

      There is some evolution that you actually can observe, for things with much shorter life spans. One example of this is the peppered moth. Originally, most of the ones living in the wild were light-coloured. But with the industrial revolution came lots of pollution – so the ones that had darker bits on them survived longer (because they were better camoflauged, and their predators had a harder time finding them!).

      These darker ones therefore did a better job at surviving longer – and so were the ones that were able to produce young. This meant that the darker ones became much more common. And now…its changing back! Because of pollution laws, apparently the lighter ones are once again becoming common.

      So this is an example of how we can see some evolutionary processes occuring, in real life.

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