Are humans descended from apes?

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Nature

In short, no. 

This stuff fascinates me and since reading Prof. Brian Cox's Human Universe, I've wanted to pursue it a little.

It seems to be a common misconception that we are descended from the ape family because we appear to have common traits: be-pedal, thinking, dexterous etc. This would imply that apes, as we see them today, have been around for millions of years and that humans evolved from them.

The reality is that humans share a common ancestor with today's apes. Quite what that common ancestor was, is unknown. But it's fascinating to ponder it and perhaps more accurate to consider us cousins to the modern ape.

A little history.

Humans belong to the biological family Hominidae, also known as "great apes," which includes chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and bonobos. All of these species share a common ancestor that lived around 5 to 7 million years ago. So, 5 to 7 million years ago there were no humans and no chimps as we see them today. Rather, there was a species that would later evolve and split. 

Humans (belonging to the Hominin sub-species) split from our common ancestor somewhere in Africa. We humans developed skills with crafting tools and also developed increased cranial capacity - bigger brains.

Over time, various hominin species evolved, some of which were direct ancestors of modern humans, such as Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and eventually Homo sapiens (modern humans). Other species, such as Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), were closely related to humans but not direct ancestors.

The term "Homo sapiens" is the scientific name for the human species and comes from Latin:

• "Homo" means "man" or "human."
• "Sapiens" means "wise" or "discerning."

This is cool stuff and completely wipes out the nonsense of a missing link that still wanders the wastes of Siberia or some North American mountain range. 

This common ancestor was neither a human nor an ape in the modern sense but had traits that would later diversify into the features seen in today's humans and apes. Evolutionary processes over millions of years, such as natural selection and adaptation to different environments, have shaped the distinct paths of humans and other great apes.

As a footnote, I read somewhere that every human is at least 1% and at most 5 - 7% Neanderthal. Don't quote me on it but it makes for some intriguing reading as there appears to be no direct evolutionary link, rather a strong case for inter-breeding. Fascinating stuff.