If humans evolve from apes, why didn't all apes evolve at the same rate?

[Jimmy Fox]

I think both humans & apes had a (Common Ancestor).

 

[CRGreathouse]

But to capture what is meant by "progress" - as in A is better than B, rather than A is simply larger than B - relative complexity would seem the right kind of metric.

And how would you define that? Be careful, too, if you use the concept of an "individual" in your definition, unless you also define what that means.

 

[DaveC426913]

The obvious objective measure from an evolutionary point of view is the number of copies of the gene that spread into the environment.

In which case it's the bacteria's planet, always has been - always will be.

Rather than the number of copies, how about the pervasiveness? i.e the number of distinct biotopes they are able to occupy?

Bacteria are so successful I can't even imagine an environment where other species might exist where they do not.

i.e. if it can't support bacteria, it can't support any life.

 

[Orion1]

hominid evolution...


Humans evolved from an earlier common primitive primate ancestor, which existed some 14 million years ago, where the existing primate evolutionary branch split into the hominid branch, of which Homo sapiens is the only extant species, and all other primate branches.

The rate at which evolution occurs for any given branch of life, and also the rate at which new species are generated, is an extremely sophisticated university level subject. Please consult my references listed below for a much broader understanding.
[/Color]
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution#Common_descent"
http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/human-evolution-tree.jpg"
http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~eamonn/shape/phenogram_primate.bmp"
http://www.peripatus.gen.nz/paleontology/Wood2002Fig2.jpg"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godinotia"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate#Evolution"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesiadapis"

 

[mgb_phys]

I think both humans & apes had a (Common Ancestor).

Humans are apes.
Humans and Chimps had a common ancestor, then a bit longer ago that species and gorillas had a common ancestor - all of those were apes.

 

[D H]

Humans are not apes, they are hominids, Humans and Apes are both primates.

You are dealing with some rather dated nomenclature, Orion1. DNA analysis pretty much killed that old classification. Humans are now classified as apes (a superfamily). We are in fact classified as one of the great apes (the family Hominidae), along with orangutans, gorillas, and chimps. The close association between humans and apes goes a lot deeper than familiy. we are classified along with chimps and gorillas at the subfamility level (Homininae) and along with chimps at the tribe (between genus and subfamily) level (Hominini). The difference between humans and chimps is very, very slight. We are apes.

 

[Orion1]

primate evolution...

An ape is any member of the Hominoidea superfamily of primates, including humans. Due to its ambiguous nature, the term ape has been deemphasized in favor of Hominoidea as a means of describing taxonomic relationships.

Until a few decades ago, humans were thought to be distinctly set apart from the other apes (even from the other great apes), so much so that many people still do not think of the term "apes" to include humans at all. However, it is not considered accurate by many biologists to think of apes in a biological sense without considering humans to be included.

hominoid taxonomy has undergone several changes. Genetic analysis shows that apes diverged from the Old World monkeys between 29 million and 34.5 million years ago. The lesser and greater apes split about 18 million years ago, and the hominid splits happened 14 million years ago (Pongo), 7 million years ago (Gorilla), and 3-5 million years ago (Homo & Pan).

Thanks for the modern taxonomic clarification.

Is the superfamily Hominoidea 29 million to 34.5 million years old?

The New World monkeys split from the Old World about 40 million years ago, while the apes diverged from the Old World monkeys about 25 million years ago.

Does the superfamily Hominoidea branch from the superfamily Cercopithecoidea at this point?

One of the earliest primate fossils discovered thus far in the fossil record are called Godinotia, and is 49 million years old, and the primate lineage is thought go back to at least 65 million years, even though the oldest known primate from the fossil record is Plesiadapis, which is 55 – 58 million years old from the Late Paleocene.

Was Godinotia a prosimian that evolved from Strepsirhines 49 million years ago?

Plesiadapis is a member of superfamily Plesiadapoidea, did Hominoidea and Cercopithecoidea originate from Plesiadapoidea?

Haplorrhini and its sister clade, Strepsirrhini ("wet-nosed" primates), parted ways about 63 million years ago.

Did all primates originate from Strepsirhines and Haplorhines 63 million years ago?
[/Color]
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape#Changes_in_taxonomy"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape#Classification_and_evolution"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godinotia"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesiadapis"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_World_monkey"
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_X5FQxL_6WOA/SSqRje9lngI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/jVAZ2KbbA2c/s1600-h/famtree4.gif"
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_X5FQxL_6WOA/SSqRPKgKzXI/AAAAAAAAAKA/3AyBCZEkwPg/s320/phillytree.gif"
http://kevinunderhill.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/10/20/primates_tree.gif"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strepsirrhini"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplorrhini"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosimian"

 

[apeiron]

And how would you define that? Be careful, too, if you use the concept of an "individual" in your definition, unless you also define what that means.

I did offer a measure of complexity...

Humans for example can access many more states of being than a bug. We can count the number of states (even if roughly) to get a measure of our relative complexity.

 

[D H]

Civilisations rise and fall for a variety of internal and external reasons.

Sheer, dumb luck is one of the big factors leading to the rise of civilizations while plain old bad luck certainly helps civilizations fall. You mentioned East Africa, mgb. Bad luck for them that the fertile Sahara turned back into the desert Sahara.

Civilization rose in the Fertile Crescent and China in part because those people were in the right place. South Africa has an equally nice climate. The Fertile Crescent had wild sheep, goats, horses, cows. South Africa has antelopes, zebras, and cape buffalo. Antelopes are too jumpy, literally and figuratively, to domesticate. Zebras and cape buffalo are amongst the meanest of animals. Bad luck for civilization in southern Africa. Sheer dumb luck that sheep, goats, horses, and cows happen to have the traits that make them domesticable.