--- title: Evolution myths put right: monkeys, the strongest and missing links — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Evolution myths put right: monkeys, the strongest and missing links», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: The famous picture of a monkey walking step by step into a man is misleading too, because evolution is --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / Evolution myths put right: monkeys, th… # Evolution myths put right: monkeys, the strongest and missing links Lesson 280 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 15 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/1/) — The famous picture of a monkey walking step by step into a man is misleading too, because evolution is like a bushy tree with many branches, and several kinds of human relatives lived at the same time. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/3/) — Animals also cannot choose to evolve: changes in DNA happen by chance, and the place decides which ones last, so the giraffe never wanted a long neck. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/4/) — And Pokémon do not evolve in the science sense: one creature changing in its own life is growing up, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, while evolution happens to whole groups over many generations. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/5/) — People did not come from today's monkeys or chimps; we share common ancestors with them, and chimps have been evolving for exactly as long as we have. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/7/) — The famous picture of a line of apes turning into a man is misleading: evolution is a branching bush, not a ladder, and many human relatives lived at the same time. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/8/) — In science a theory is a big explanation backed by a mountain of evidence, like the theory of gravity; in everyday talk «theory» means a guess, but in science it does not. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/9/) — Evolution is supported by fossils, by DNA and by changes we can watch happening today. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/10/) — Humans are still evolving, slowly; the spread of milk digestion and resistance to some diseases are examples, over thousands of years, not one lifetime. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/11/) — An animal cannot choose to evolve; changes happen by chance in DNA, and the place decides which ones last. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/12/) — Thousands of in-between fossils are known, such as Tiktaalik, Archaeopteryx and early whales; scientists joke that every new fossil fills one gap but makes two smaller ones. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/13/) — When a Pokémon evolves, one creature changes in its life, which is like metamorphosis or growing up, not evolution; real evolution happens to groups over generations. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/14/) — Many religious people and scientists accept evolution and also have faith; science explains how living things change, faith answers other questions for believers, and people answer this in different ways and should respect each other. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/15/) — The tailbone, or coccyx, is what is left of a tail, and it still anchors muscles; such leftover parts are called vestigial, and they may have new jobs. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/16/) — Goosebumps are left from ancestors with fur: tiny muscles fluffed the fur up to keep warm or look bigger. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/280-evolution-myths-put-right-monkeys-the-strongest-and-missing-links/17/) — Neanderthals made tools, used fire, buried their dead and maybe made art; their brains were as big as ours, and they had children with our ancestors. - ← previous: [Natural selection we can watch: moths, finches, germs and tuskless elephants](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/279-natural-selection-we-can-watch-moths-finches-germs-and-tuskless-elephants/) - next →: [Extinct forever: the dodo, the passenger pigeon, the thylacine and more](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/281-extinct-forever-the-dodo-the-passenger-pigeon-the-thylacine-and-more/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)