Did humans really evolve from apes? This evolutionary topic first arose by the research of Charles Darwin exploring the idea that humans evolved from an ape-like common ancestor that lived millions of years ago. Today, the idea describes how humans went through changes in genetic makeup and environmental surroundings from ape ancestors, whereas apes took a different evolutionary pathway to be the mammal they are today. I believe that humans did evolve from apes due to shockingly similar morphology (physical appearance) such as arms and skull structure between the two mammals.
Research on this topic shows us that humans have a very low genetic diversity as it is said the human population was derived from a single population of humans called Homo sapiens that lived in East Africa. Additionally, it is said that humans only differ by 0.1% of their genetic makeup; this statistic is surprising as you take a look around and see how different every individual is. Comparing this to a study done by National Geographic that states how humans and chimpanzees share 96% of the same DNA only further supports the claim that the Homo sapiens evolved from an ape species.
Their are many evolutionary mechanisms that scientists believe humans used to evolve into the mammal we are today. Natural selection is just one of these evolutionary mechanisms, which allows strictly the fittest members of a population to pass down genetic information to the next generation and not die off from disturbances such as diseases and competition between other species. Mutations (random changes in an individuals genetic DNA) can lead to numerous morphological alterations for example, quadrupedalism (walking on all fours) to bipedalism, which also plays into the gradual vertical posture humans obtain now that further contributes to the increased height humans have compared to species of apes. Another morphological comparison that is strikingly similar is the skeletal features of ape-like animals such as gorillas and chimpanzees to those of humans.Natural selection would chose whether that mutated trait would be beneficial or detrimental to the next generation.
In the image below you can directly compare homologous traits between humans and other ape-like ancestors, which pushes evolutionists to believe that all these species presented and possibly more have evolved from a common ancestor.
Image 1. This image lets us directly compare physical characteristics between humans and ape-like ancestors. From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution>
This video done by Dr. Rick Potts goes into detail of directly comparing fossils of common ancestors to humans. From <http://humanorigins.si.edu/education/introduction-human-evolution>
