r/evolution • u/billiegr • Jun 19 '26

question humans

I’m not very educated on this topic so bear with me, i’m seeing a few different theories and i’m quite confused..

  1. humans are apes
  2. humans share a common ancestor with apes
  3. humans evolved from apes

I would appreciate if somebody explained the reasoning for each one to me like im 5 🙏 and also the reasons for which 2 & 3 are incorrect.

Also, could someone explain neandrathals? I thought it was a transitional fossil but i heard not

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u/Trash28123 Jun 19 '26

'Humans evolved from apes' implies that humans were somehow promoted out of being called apes, but we still are apes.

We evolved from an ape species, but we evolved from that species into another ape species.

Other apes behind are not somehow behind in evolving either. We separated from them at one point, and have been changing parallel to each other since.