• Question: Is it possible that humans evolved from other animals as well as monkeys?

    Asked by canavanlwh to David, Helen, Ian, rhysphillips, Sarah on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Ian van der Linde

      Ian van der Linde answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Yes, before the monkeys were simpler mammals, and then reptiles, and then fish, so there is a lineage of evolution that goes back further than monkeys!

    • Photo: David Corne

      David Corne answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      … also we have things called mitochondria in each of our cells — these work a bit like batteries. Mitochondria have their own, different DNA ! It is believed that they evolved from bacteria, and way way back in the evolutionary tree, our ancestor (a tiny bug) engulfed a mitochondrial bacterium, and from then we have evolved together.
      Of course, a few of us also have medichlorians in our blood – that makes you a jedi.

    • Photo: Rhys Phillips

      Rhys Phillips answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Indirectly yes – monkeys will have evolved from another species and those from another etc.

    • Photo: Helen Fletcher

      Helen Fletcher answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      In a single strand of our DNA we have a large amount of “junk” DNA which is scattered between our genes. This junk DNA doesn’t code for proteins and we’re still not exactly sure why we have so much of it and what it does. We do see fragments of bacterial and viral DNA in our “junk” DNA so it looks like we picked up the odd microbial gene along our evolutionary way…

Comments