Bud&bluntman

How did humans come into existance. According to darwin their is a gap in the fossil range which makes it difficult to determaine the origin of humans. If apes evolved into caveman, how did it happen. How could one animal give birth to a different animal? AAnd how could a caveman turn into a human? I know it's evolution, but how did this come to be? Where did humans come from, and how?

Buzzby

Darwin didn't have molecular biology. We share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees and almost that much with gorillas. A male human is closer, genetically, to a male chimp than he is to a female human. That's as much proof as I need to believe that we have common origins.

The usual way. It's always a balance between mutation and the environment. Certain new traits turn out to give the mutated individual a survival advantage in that environment. Over generations, the ones with the new traits become the dominant segment of the population.

For humans, the primary traits were language abilities and manual dexterity. They allow people to develop technologies and pass them on to future generations. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. Instead, we can build on older knowledge.

Mutation.

From the accumulation of new, survival-positive mutations over many generations.

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timiscute

Is that true? Where did you get that info from? It's not that I don't believe you but that seems crazy to me. How could that be possible when there's seemingly more similarities between any humans than a human and an ape.

~Tim

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shibshib

genetics aren't all about looks. Off the top of my head, consider how many animal species look the same yet are not even related on the genetic tree.


but I'd love to get a source on that quote too. It wouldn't surprise me though.

timiscute

That's true but I would wager there aren't many species that are more closely related to another species genetically than the opposite sex of their own species. I wouldn't be completely surprised if its accurate but it still seems amazing to me.

~Tim

shibshib

Again, just off the top of my head... but there are many types of fish species (like the angler fish) where the male and female are absolutely completely different.

I guess the key thing to keep in mind is... it can happen.

Buzzby

Chimp, human DNA comparison finds vast similarities, key differences

Humans have 46 chromosomes. Two of these determine gender. The difference between a man and a woman is at least 2.17%, just on that basis.

Actually, that has very little to do with mutation under human supervision. Those potentials existed within the wolf genome and man simply bred for the expression of those genes that suited his purpose. In biological terms, the 14,000 years since dogs were domesticated is too short for much in the way of accumulated mutations. The great variety of dogs we have today have mostly been developed in the last few hundred years.

shibshib

First off, I'll just put it out there that I'm Christian.

Anyways, to build on what buzzby said...

You really need to take into account the time frame we have to work with when talking about all those "mutations".

Just a single mutation, given thousands upon thousands of years to spread through generations, can lead to all sorts of things.

Darwin's big thing was micro-evolution, which is a great way to get a first-hand observation on how character traits spread and favor whatever makes a stronger, healthier creature.