• Question: if humans evolved from monkeys then what did monkeys evolve from ?

    Asked by cheezybeanz to timcraggs, Stuart, Mark, Jo, Donna on 15 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by hamza.
    • Photo: Mark Lancaster

      Mark Lancaster answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      I will answer this as a particle physicist and not an evolutionary biologist (of which I know almost nothing). Humans and everything in the universe are made from electrons and quarks – just two things which are held together by 4 particles – the photon, gluon, W/Z particles. These particles were created at the start of the universe. The electrons in your body are 14 billion years old and have spent time in monkeys, the soil and various other places – some not so nice. Some of the atoms (and hence electrons) that you are breathing now were the same atoms that Henry VIII breathed – similarly you will have some atoms from Elvis Presley’s last vomit….

      The mystery is how did these particles survive 14 billion years – they should have been annihilated (by anti-matter) shortly after the Big Bang and how did these electrons and quarks ultimately get together to form DNA which knew about evolution… I’m working on the first of those questions… the others are too hard for me !

    • Photo: Tim Craggs

      Tim Craggs answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Hi Cheezybeanz,

      It was good to talk to you on the live chat yesterday. This is a really interesting question. I am not sure that it correct to say that humans evolved from monkeys. It is true that some monkeys are probably the closest species to us (Chimpanzees and Bonobos) but I do not think we evolved from them. Rather, we have a recent common ancestor. It is like a family tree – I was not produced (evolved) from my cousin, but we both share a set of Grandparents.

      So what I am saying is that monkeys and humans actually evolved from the same organism, now what that was, I will have to leave to Donna to tell you!

      Does that make sense?

      Tim

    • Photo: Joanna Buckley

      Joanna Buckley answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Oooh, good one cheezybeanz.

      From my understanding, humans didn’t actually evolve from monkeys. I know, I was told that too. I felt cheated when I found out.

      We share common ancestors with monkeys but actually we came from an early form of fish. Really! Now I know we don’t live underwater like they do but we descended from a fish-like species which could zip out of the water to get more food. The species which could eat more (the ones which could survive outside of the water) were stronger and healthier and they survived. Have you done about survival of the fittest, cheezybeanz? Well, that’s just it.

      The reason we still have monkeys is that they’re suited to their own environment. I know a man who has ridiculously long arms and even he couldn’t swing through the treetops like our monkey friends. His arms are so long… he can even touch his knees standing straight! That’s another story.

      Evolution is an amazing area to be interested in. Have you ever noticed snakes have bumps where their arms and legs would have been and humans have a tail bone but no tail?

    • Photo: Donna MacCallum

      Donna MacCallum answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Ah, an evolutionary question….

      This is a really good question, and it confuses people because we tend to use the work monkey to describe anything that looks like a monkey.

      Both humans and monkeys/apes (as we know them today) are thought to have evolved from a common ancestor that looked something like the monkeys/apes as we know them today. So the easy answer is that monkeys evolved from an earlier type of monkey!

      See the following site for an illustration of how humans evolved (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_human_evolution)

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