Talk:Beringel/@comment-27873114-20200115165501/@comment-24018437-20200116114104

Video doesn't work. Either way, when people say 'we come from monkeys', its not literal in the sense we came from modern monkeys. Its a basic biological fact that there is a difference between great apes and the rest of the primate family. Allow me to break it down for you, while also using the canidae as an example.

Primates are an order of mammals, which like all orders, are split into various suborders. With primates, these are the Strepsirrhini (Lemurs, galagos and loris) and the Haplorhini (pretty much everything else.)

The Haplorhini is the one we need. This group is split into two infraorders, the Tarsiidae (Tarsiers) and the Simiiformes. Once again, the latter is the one we need.

The Simiiformes are split into two parvorders. These are the New World Monkeys, and the Old World Primates. In the latter parvorder, its once again split into two. This time, in superfamilies. These are the Old World Monkeys (think babboons and such) and the Hominodae, which are the apes. The apes are then split into two 'normal' families, that being the lesser apes (gibbons) and the great apes (humans, chimps, bonobos, orangutangs and gorrilas).

Like with any animal, monkeys and apes are related and are even in the same various biological levels. But the further you go down, the more distantly related they become. Apes and monkeys are both primates, but they're ultimately not the same.

To make the comparison with canids (albeit it shorter): canines are part of the carnivora order. This means that they are relatives of the likes of cats, hyenas, bears, weasels, seals, raccoons, pandas, mongooses etc. But once again, the further you down, the more differences become clear and the lesser related canines become to the rest of the carnivore family tree. And once we actually reach the canids themselves, the same thing happens. We have canis (jackals, dogs, wolves and coyotes), cuon (dholes), vulpes (true foxes), lycaon (African painted dogs) etc.

Foxes and wolves are related, but they're not the exact same. Neither are apes and monkeys. You could even make a comparison with the felids, which are often divided into big cats (leopards, jaguars, lions and tigers) and small cats (everything else). Related, but not the same. Calling monkeys apes and vice versa is like calling a dog a fox.