Learn more physics!
Q:
Why do we live on this earth? Were we really monkeys!!!(that would be scary)
- Beth (age 12)
Bluejacket-Flint, Shawnee, Ks
A:
I'm not sure that I understand the first part of the question. Is it about why here or why us?
As for the second part, I think you mean "Were our ancestors like
monkeys?" There the answer is simply yes. We share a common ancestor
with some modern apes about 6 million years ago. The last common
ancestor with Old World monkeys lived much longer ago- maybe 15 million
years if I remember right. (I don't mean that I personally remember the
ancestor, just reading about it.)
I'm not sure why you find having monkey-ish ancestors scary.
Monkeys can be pretty ornery, but they never did anything nearly as
scary as what people are doing to the Earth.
Mike W.
Or what we do to each other.
Tom
(published on 10/22/2007)
Follow-up on this answer.
