To understand the human evolution on Earth should we study monkeys? No, fishes. The biologist Prosanta Chakrabarty explains it in this brilliant 5-minute lesson, which dispels some myths linked to evolution, encouraging us to remember that we are a small part of a four billion year-long process.
In his fascinating reconstruction, the first animals to develop a backbone are fishes, which give rise to mammals and reptiles. Some reptiles become birds, some mammals become primates, some primates become monkeys with their tails and others become great apes, including a variety of human species. So we did not evolve from monkeys, but we share a common ancestor with them.
