If we evolved from monkeys,
why are there still monkeys?
Well, because we're not monkeys,
we're fish.
Now, knowing you're a fish and not a monkey
is actually really important to understanding where we came from.
I teach one of the largest evolutionary biology classes in the US,
and when my students finally understand
why I call them fish all the time,
then I know I'm getting my job done.
But I always have to start my classes
by dispelling some hard-wired myths,
because without really knowing it,
many of us are taught evolution wrong.
For instance, we're taught to say "the theory of evolution."
There are actually many theories, and just like the process itself,
the ones that best fit the data are the ones that survive to this day.
The one we know best is Darwinian natural selection.
That's the process by which those organisms that best fit an environment
survive and get to reproduce,
while those that are less fit slowly die off.
And that's it.
Evolution is as simple as that,
and it's a fact.
Evolution is a fact
as much as the theory of gravity.
You can prove it just as easily.
You just need to look at your bellybutton
that you share with other placental mammals,
or your backbone
that you share with other vertebrates,
or your DNA that you share with all other life on earth.
Those traits didn't pop up in humans.
They were passed down from different ancestors
to all their descendants, not just us.
But that's not really how we learn biology early on, is it.
We learn plants and bacteria are primitive things,
and fish give rise to amphibians followed by reptiles and mammals,
and then