“SIX MILLION YEARS AGO, WHAT SET OUR ANCESTORS ON THE PATH FROM APE TO HUMAN?”

摘要

Wait a minute, don’t apes still exist? In fact, aren’t humans apes? The title and script above are taken from NOVA’s “Becoming Human” series, which aired in November 2009. Such statements perpetuate common misconceptions about human evolution. If they struck you as incorrect, then you probably understand evolution well enough to avoid conveying these misconceptions to your students. Yes, apes still exist, humans are apes, and humans didn’t evolve from apes. Humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor. Unfortunately, that understanding escaped the producers.