Welcome to My page correcting  a few misconceptions 

At RealEd, I believe in exploring education from every angle, even the hilariously unconventional. Prepare to meet a unique perspective that might just make you think differently about learning.

Who is Philomena Cunk?

Many will already have heard of a TV  character named Philomena Cunk.

So "Who is Philomena Cunk?"

She's a fictional investigative reporter, played by Diane Morgan, who has a very entertaining personality, especially when she asks "experts" her questions, in her unique way. And one of those questions, which is in fact a very clever question, coupled with 'Philomena's' unique style, seems to have been very popular, and one I have been asked on many occasions is: "if we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?"

Now, I see this question as indeed very clever, which stems from Charles Darwin's 'theory of evolution' where he stated that Humans did evolve from monkeys, so this, along with her clever play on words, as is the obvious 'Moc' instead of 'Doc', to Me, shows She is an educated person herself.

A short 'Doc'umentary for everyone

My page here is simply my way of applauding Diane Morgan for her pertrayal of Her ficticious character called Philomena Cunk, which has clearly caught other peoples interests and sparked their interest enough to ask the question themselves, indirectly fuelling interst in Science, and hence giving me some  more content to add to My RealEd website, as this page.

The first part of the answer is simple: 'No, we did not evolve from monkeys'

The second, and final, part of the answer will take a long time to write, so to avoid any confusion,  I'll do my best to make it as simple as I can to show why it's not a stupid question at all, but I think Charles Darwin, as much as he was on the right track, maybe unwhittingly created a vision of a conveyor belt type evolution where monkeys just climb on board using hands and legs, travel along that conveyor, having a few 'tweaks' along the way for a while, until an Upright Walking Human being steps off the other end and says 'cheers lads'.

The "tree of life"

Imagine a tree, on one branch you see Human Beings standing, and on another branch you see monkeys standing, the tree is represents the universe where both species are independantly created, and both us humans, and monkeys, share that same "tree", just as you, and your cousins do, on seperate branches.

So yes there are similarities between Us Human beings and Monkeys. (Primates) in as much as  both species evolve independantly, on  what is known as 'the tree of life' in many faiths around planet earth, but we do not share the same DNA, and in fairness, Charles Darwin didn't have the abilities to check DNA in the 1800's, so his very clever theory was based on what was available to him, so still remarkable work, which, through further evolution in Sciences, we are able to explain more in depth.

You could swap the monkeys for any other living species, and the same answer applies, but of course monkeys are the easier to compare, due to our obvious similarities