Charles Darwin was a gift to Victorian cartoonists and caricaturists, both in Britain and overseas. His bushy eyebrows, bald head, deep-set eyes, short nose, and long beard made him look like some ancient species of monkey, a perfect target for those who wanted to lampoon his then-controversial claim that humans were descended not from Adam and Eve but from some kind of ape. But is it true, did humans evolve from apes?
Evolutionary Timeline
About 4,200 million years ago, life emerged on Earth. By 610 million years ago, the first animals appeared. 505 million years ago saw the emergence of the first fish, followed by the first four-limbed animals 395 million years ago. Mammals first appeared 220 million years ago, primates 80 million years ago, and humans 2.5 million years ago. Anatomically modern humans appeared less than a million years ago. So, when did our ape ancestors live in this timeline?
Misconceptions in Popular Culture
Depictions of human evolution in popular culture often wrongly imply that evolution is linear and progressive. This misunderstanding is exemplified in media, such as the TV show “Knight Rider,” which premiered in 1982 on NBC. The show featured two main characters: Michael Knight, a mysterious loner dedicated to pursuing justice, and KITT, an advanced, talking black Pontiac Trans Am. KITT, despite its sophisticated capabilities, was still fundamentally a car.
The Confusion
Up until the second half of the 19th century, science in Europe was dominated by theological dogmas, which held that God created humans in His own image, distinct from animals. This view persisted even after Darwin’s theory of evolution became established. Scholars habitually excluded humans from the category of apes. Only recently have scholars begun to include humans in the definition of apes, clarifying whether they are referring to humans, non-human apes, or apes in general.
The Takeaway
Given the contemporary understanding of the term “ape,” the question “have humans evolved from apes?” is fundamentally flawed. A more accurate comparison is that humans are to apes what KITT is to a car. Humans have not evolved from apes in the simplistic sense often portrayed. Rather, humans are a type of bipedal, hairless ape capable of creating music, art, and literature, much like KITT is a sophisticated car with advanced capabilities.
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