If evolution is real, why are there still monkeys?

"When you learned about the history of human evolution in school, there's a good chance you were shown one all-too-familiar image. That picture probably showed a conga line of human-like creatures, from a primitive ape at one end to a modern man proudly strolling into the future at the other. For many people, this iconic image captures evolution's slow but inevitable march from the simple to the complex."

"But it also raises a puzzling question: If this really is how evolution works, then why are there still monkeys and apes? Surely, if humans evolved out of primates, there's no reason that so many species should have remained so primitive. While it might be easy to dismiss this as a trivial question, the answer actually reveals a fascinating detail of our shared evolutionary history."

"'Think of the evolutionary process as tree-like. All living species are at the tips of the branches. 'Humans and monkeys are on branches that separated at some point. Both branches still exist.' If we were to trace those branches back in time through the generations, we would eventually find that they merge into a single species. Modern humans' closest living relatives are chimpanzees and bonobos, with whom we share about 98.7 per cent of our DNA."

A linear depiction of evolution as a progression from primitive to perfect misrepresents the process. Evolution operates like a branching tree in which all living species occupy the tips of branches. Humans and monkeys occupy separate branches that split from a common ancestral line, and both branches can continue to exist. Tracing branches backward reveals convergence to shared ancestral species. Modern humans are most closely related to chimpanzees and bonobos, sharing roughly 98.7% of DNA, and many anatomical and social traits are conserved across primates despite divergent evolutionary paths.

Read at Mail Online