• Question: Do you think we evolved from monkeys?

    Asked by matblack7 to Ed, Hayley, Jason, Nathan, Sophie on 14 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Hayley Evers-King

      Hayley Evers-King answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      No, evidence suggests that we share a common ancestor with monkeys. So we not come from monkeys, they are more like our very distant cousins.

    • Photo: Sophie Holles

      Sophie Holles answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      Primates are divided up into monkeys, apes and hominids. Monkeys have prehensile (flexible) tails and can’t swing from tree to tree like apes can. Apes have longer arms, bigger bodies and brains like chimps and orangutans. We are hominids and always walk upright. Bonobos are the apes that are the most closely related to us but we didn’t evolve from them though like Hayley says, we are more like cousins that share an ancestor. We are more distantly related to monkeys than apes (like second cousins). We also share common ancestors with fish if you look back in time far enough!

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