Is it possible that another (ape) species evolves, creating a new kind of human being?

Answer

Dear Maartje,

All animals alive today have had an equally long evolutionary histories and will continue to evolve in the future (unless they become extinct). That applies to all of them, including monkeys (including humans). But there is no reason at all to think that something similar to us will evolve from a monkey (say, a chimpanzee). Evolution is not a process that has an end goal (eg a “human being”) in mind.

Given enough time, it is of course not impossible (but very unlikely) that, for example, a new species would emerge from a subpopulation of chimpanzees that, for example, would also walk upright, a characteristic that we now consider to be typical for humans. But that still won’t be a kind of man, because he won’t be like us in other respects (why should it?), and besides, he won’t be descended from what we call the “human” line in evolution (the Hominini), but he will. from a sister group.

If you want to delve further into evolution (as a process) or in human evolution in particular, you can certainly browse through the already answered questions on this site!

Kris