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Like Monkey Like Human .. Right?

Nia Smith
Mar 31, 2016
2 min read

Many people believe that humans are not related to any other organisms on earth. I believe that that statement is false. Even though humans did not evolve from other organisms, they definitely share similarities with at least a few. They can be known as primates, or in the same species. The first couple of organisms that come to mind are chimpanzees and monkeys.

What are primates ?

A primate is a mammal of the order, Primates. Also, it is any member of animals that includes human beings, apes, and monkeys.

HALL OF HUMAN ORIGINS:

-Genetics: How monkeys and humans relate.

Researchers from the Smithsonian Museum say that humans and chimpanzees are 98.8% genetically similar. Likewise, humans and monkeys are primates. But humans are not descended from monkeys or any other primate living today. However, do share a common ape ancestor with chimpanzees, living between 8 and 6 million years ago.

Human and chimpanzees evolved differently from that same ancestor. All apes and monkeys share a more distant relative, which lived about 25 million years ago. Humans are related to other organisms, but chimpanzees are the closest.

-Evolution of Humans

Many people skip over how humans evolved. Like evolution in other organisms, human evolution did not proceed in a straight line. Instead. A variety of species diverged from common ancestors. Our species, Homo sapiens, is the only survivor. But there were many times in the past when several early human species lived at the same time.

Early humans began to gather at shelters to eat and socialize. As brains became larger and more complex, growing up took longer-requiring more parental care and the protective environment of a home. Expanding social networks led, eventually, to the complex social lives of modern humans.

-Human differences from other organisms.

The characteristics are part of the rich arrangement of physical traits and behaviors that make us human. However, did not evolve all at once. It took about 6 million years for our human traits to collect. For millions of years all humans, early and modern alike, had to find their own food. They spent a large part of each day gathering plants and hunting or scavenging animals. Then, within just the past 12,000 years, our species, Homo Sapiens, made the transition to producing food and changing our surroundings. We have been so successful that we have accidentally created turning point in the history of the life on Earth.

Overall, humans have evolved and are still evolving today. Scientists are finding evidence of how humans can be compared to lots of other organisms!

SOURCES:

-PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

-Smithsonian Museum

-Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.