I didn’t come from a monkey!

How often do you hear this sort of comment from those who reject evolutionary science?

These sort of comments may demonstrate a degree of species chauvinism – but they don’t demonstrate any understanding of the science. Because, of course, no one suggests that humans evolved from monkey. This figure from Richard Dawkins’ wonderful book The Ancestor’s Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution presents an overview of primate evolution and human origins. (See us – 3rd from the top).

So, we didn’t evolve from monkeys (these are modern species) but we shared a common ancestor with the Old World monkeys 25 million years ago, and with the New World monkeys 40 million years ago. Our common ancestors with the orangutans lived 14 million years ago, and with the gorillas 7 million years ago.

As for the retort “I didn’t come from an ape!” Well, apes are defined as “the members of the Hominoidea superfamily of primates, which includes humans.”

So we are all apes.

*Figure adapted from Stewart and Disotell: “Primate Evolution – in and out of Africa”. (pdf)