• Question: Did the ape evolve into man

    Asked by 227gdge46 to Chris, Hayley, Jimi on 16 Mar 2016. This question was also asked by H2005.
    • Photo: Chris Conselice

      Chris Conselice answered on 16 Mar 2016:

      No they did not. Apes and mankind evolved from a common ancestor that looked a bit like both of us probably.

    • Photo: Hayley Moulding

      Hayley Moulding answered on 18 Mar 2016:

      Not quite. Humans and ape have a common relative, so some being there share in common. What happened as once upon a time we were one, then we took two different paths making human, separate to ape.

    • Photo: Jimi Wills

      Jimi Wills answered on 18 Mar 2016:

      Yes and no…

      The common ancestor of us and the other great apes was also an ape. In fact, humans are apes.

      The great ape family, or Hominidae, are:
      chimps
      orang utans
      gibbons
      gorillas
      humans

      The common ancestor of all of these was 14 million years ago, but the split between chimp and humans (chimps are our closest relative, we both belong to a tribe called Hominini) was only 4. The Hominini ancestor probably looked a lot like chimps do now.

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