One species...

[pyro214]

i used to debate evolution tonz....its believable to a certain extent.

The main thing that made evolution seem unlikely without IE was that theres only on species of humans. If some old type of monkey evolved into many types of todays monkeys, and "humans".....why arnt there different kinds of humans living today?

theres thousands of bird species, i dunno how many different kinds of monkeys/ gorillas/ chimpanzees etc.... yet theres only one type of human, why?

 

[sfs]

i used to debate evolution tonz....its believable to a certain extent.

The main thing that made evolution seem unlikely without IE was that theres only on species of humans. If some old type of monkey evolved into many types of todays monkeys, and "humans".....why arnt there different kinds of humans living today?

theres thousands of bird species, i dunno how many different kinds of monkeys/ gorillas/ chimpanzees etc.... yet theres only one type of human, why?

There's one type of human because humans are a single species -- just as there is one species of gorilla, and one species of common chimpanzee, and one species of gibbon, and one species of macaque. Put another way, zoologically speaking we are one of those many species of monkey. We just aren't usually called monkeys.

 

[Vainglorious]

i used to debate evolution tonz....its believable to a certain extent.

The main thing that made evolution seem unlikely without IE was that theres only on species of humans. If some old type of monkey evolved into many types of todays monkeys, and "humans".....why arnt there different kinds of humans living today?

theres thousands of bird species, i dunno how many different kinds of monkeys/ gorillas/ chimpanzees etc.... yet theres only one type of human, why?

For speciation to occur there needs to be isolation combined with enough unique mutation to make later interbreeding difficult.

There have been no human populations which have yet reached that degree of reproductive isolation. Humans like to get their freak on with the neighbours.

 

[WhiteMageGirl]

why arnt there different kinds of humans living today?

There were more than one type of humans living at the same time. We just dominated every niche that other species of humans were adapted for. Thus, their end.

 

[pyro214]

There were more than one type of humans living at the same time. We just dominated every niche that other species of humans were adapted for. Thus, their end.

why them and not monkeys?

 

[HumanisticJones]

why them and not monkeys?

We don't usually compete for food, space and mates in tree tops of deep jungles. Thus early humans weren't in competition with monkeys. They are here as well as us because we fit different niches.

 

[Beastt]

i used to debate evolution tonz....its believable to a certain extent.

The main thing that made evolution seem unlikely without IE was that theres only on species of humans. If some old type of monkey evolved into many types of todays monkeys, and "humans".....why arnt there different kinds of humans living today?

theres thousands of bird species, i dunno how many different kinds of monkeys/ gorillas/ chimpanzees etc.... yet theres only one type of human, why?

The simple answer is because if there was another form of human, it wouldn't be human. Biological classification is a multi-level system which places species into ever more refined categories. A run-down of these categories is roughly; Domain, Kingdom, Phylum (or Division), Subphylum, Class, SubClass, Order, Suborder, Family, SubFamily, Genus, Species.

We're of the Order "Primate", SubOrder "Haplorrhini", Family "Hominidae", SubFamily "Homininae", Genus "Homo" and Species "Homo Sapien". Note that "Species" comes at the end of the list.

Your question would be valid if you were asking why we're the only Primate or the only Haplorrhini. But then the answer would be that we aren't because we share this Order and SubOrder with other primates.

Your question is somewhat analogous to; "Why is there only one model called the "Focus" in Ford's line of cars?" The model name is used to specify that particular model of car. If there were other models using the same name, the model "classification" would be far less useful. There is one model called the "Focus" and there is one species called "Homo Sapien". And while both may have slight variations, they remain within their respective classifications. You might consider a similar mutli-level classification system for the Ford Focus such as: Kingdom: Machine, Class: Transportation, Order: Automobile, Family: Economy, Genus: Ford, Species: Focus. Of course my understanding of the fine points of classification would have to be greatly improved to even be called "rudimentary" so the analogy is likely skewed in some respects.

 

[Vainglorious]

why them and not monkeys?

We can speculate why homo sapians succeeded over other hominids but we don't need to speculate that homo sapians are in the processing of eliminating quite a few primates right now.

Greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus)
Madagascar

White-collared lemur (Eulemur albocollaris)
Madagascar

Perrier's sifaka (Propithecus perrieri)
Madagascar

Silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus)
Madagascar

Eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei)
Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda

Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli)
Nigeria, Cameroon

Mt. Rungwe galago (an as yet undescribed form of the genus Galagoides)
Tanzania

Tana River red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus)
Kenya

White-naped mangabey (Cercocebus atys lunulatus)
Ghana, Ivory Coast

Sanje mangabey (Cercocebus sanjei)
Tanzania

Bioko red colobus (Procolobus pennantii pennantii)
Equatorial Guinea (Island of Bioko)

Black-faced lion tamarin (Leontopithecus caissara)
Brazil

Buffy-headed tufted capuchin (Cebus xanthosternos)
Brazil

Northern muriqui (Brachyteles hypoxanthus)
Brown spider monkey (Ateles hybridus brunneus)
Colombia

Horton Plains slender loris (Loris lydekkerianus nycticeboides)
Sri Lanka

Miller's grizzled surili (Presbytis hosei canicrus)
Indonesia (Kalimantan)

Pagai pig-tailed snub-nosed monkey (Simias concolor)
Indonesia (Mentawai Islands)

Delacour's langur (Trachypithecus delacouri)
Vietnam

Golden-headed langur (Trachypithecus poliocephalus poliocephalus)
Vietnam

Western purple-faced langur (Semnopithecus vetulus nestor)
Sri Lanka

Grey-shanked douc (Pygathrix nemaeus cinerea)
Vietnam

Tonkin snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus avunculus)
Vietnam

Hainan black-crested gibbon (Nomascus nasutus hainanus)
China (Hainan Island)

Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii)
Indonesia (Sumatra)

source

 

[KTatis]

This is all good information now lets try convincing the skeptics.

keyword: try

 

[Dannager]

I'd like to commend pyro214 for asking some wonderfully honest questions. I love it when people are actually interested in the answers.

 

[HumanisticJones]

I'd like to commend pyro214 for asking some wonderfully honest questions. I love it when people are actually interested in the answers.

Indeed, he's never once resorted to an attack or ridicule. Straight up, forward questions. I love it.

 

[Tiberius]

theres thousands of bird species, i dunno how many different kinds of monkeys/ gorillas/ chimpanzees etc.... yet theres only one type of human, why?

There were several species of humanoid living on Earth at one point, although rapid climate change and pressures from the species that were more adaptable resulted in the extinction of the less adaptable species. leaving us with the one species we have today.

 

[Sacha]

There were several species of humanoid living on Earth at one point, although rapid climate change and pressures from the species that were more adaptable resulted in the extinction of the less adaptable species. leaving us with the one species we have today.

Quite right, though this is a nice way of saying our ancestors commited genocide.

Read up on Neanderthal Man - it is fascinating. Homo neanderthalis was a completely distinct species of intelligent hominid that lived alongside our ancestors comparatively recently. They lived in communities, used tools, and may even have been capable of a system of religion (they had proper burial rituals - their remains are often found buried with flowers).

 

[XTE]

We killed out anything remotely like us to protect assets and horde wealth.

We still do it today, it's called Racism, Nationalism, Currency Division, and Religiosity.

Competition, remember?

 

[Loudmouth]

If some old type of monkey evolved into many types of todays monkeys, and "humans".....why arnt there different kinds of humans living today?

The common ancestor of humans and monkeys was neither a monkey nor a human. It was a primate. Monkeys and humans are still primates.

And I am wondering why you have no problem lumping hundreds of species into one category under the heading of "monkey" but refuse to lump all of the apes (including humans) together. Why aren't you complaining that there is only one species of orangutan or gorilla? All of the apes (including humans) are in separate genera, so humans are the rule not the exception when considering the taxonomic organization of apes.

theres thousands of bird species, i dunno how many different kinds of monkeys/ gorillas/ chimpanzees etc.... yet theres only one type of human, why?

There are hundred of different primate species, humans being one of them.

 

[Pesto]

theres thousands of bird species, [...] yet theres only one type of human, why?

Why are there hundreds of different kinds of oaks, but only one kind of black juniper?

 

[spiritplumber]

Quick and slightly snarky answer: There are many species of apes, one of them got lucky in the dexterity and tool-using department. It started going downhill when it invented advertisement.

 

[pyro214]

Quite right, though this is a nice way of saying our ancestors commited genocide.

Read up on Neanderthal Man - it is fascinating. Homo neanderthalis was a completely distinct species of intelligent hominid that lived alongside our ancestors comparatively recently. They lived in communities, used tools, and may even have been capable of a system of religion (they had proper burial rituals - their remains are often found buried with flowers).

good point considering we can see this still happening in our very recent past.

are we the only "animal" to narrow down the "similar" species down to one?

^considering humans to be different from monkeys....but some see us as apes as well. I thought that we look much different but now that i rethink it we are quiet similar (actually, most Americans think Chinese look all the same yet all Chinese think Americans look the same....maybe the its same towards monkeys when comparing to ourselves?).

 

[Pesto]

^considering humans to be different from monkeys....but some see us as apes as well. I thought that we look much different but now that i rethink it we are quiet similar (actually, most Americans think Chinese look all the same yet all Chinese think Americans look the same....maybe the its same towards monkeys when comparing to ourselves?).

When people try to claim that humans are very different than apes, I think they're doing exactly what you describe. Humans are really quite similar to (other) apes. If you want to talk about differences, compare a human to an octopus, or jelly fish, or tomato plant.

 

[Dannager]

good point considering we can see this still happening in our very recent past.

are we the only "animal" to narrow down the "similar" species down to one?

There's only one species of platypus.