"The idea that man evolved from an ape type creature makes me wonder why all of those apelike cratures did'nt evolve into man and extiguish apes... Not only that but if something evolves from one kind into another what is the purpose surved by continueing the kind from which the new kind was evolved from?"
Gold Dragon has answered you, I know, but if I may be allowed a follow up.
Species are generally adapted for some niche. That niche may be broad or narrow. But often, a population will split to exploit a new niche. In that case, the older species is still well adapted for the life it has been living while the new species is well adapted for a slightly different set of circumstances.
Again, a very simplified explanation, but hopefully one that helps.
A generalization can also be observed. According to theory, mammals and birds evolved from reptiles, reptiles from amphibians and amphibians from lobe-finned fish. You can easily observe that each of these groups still have living examles, so it is not part of the theory that the old goes away when the new evolves. Second, you should be able to see that each of these groups exploit different niches in the world's ecosystem, so that might make the first paragraph make a little more sense. Finally, and more subtlely, you may notice that even the oldest of these, the fish, have continued to adapt to life in the water, exploiting different niches and changing with time. So even the ancestor species can continue to adapt and survive going down a different path than the other descendents.
Gold Dragon has answered you, I know, but if I may be allowed a follow up.
Species are generally adapted for some niche. That niche may be broad or narrow. But often, a population will split to exploit a new niche. In that case, the older species is still well adapted for the life it has been living while the new species is well adapted for a slightly different set of circumstances.
Again, a very simplified explanation, but hopefully one that helps.
A generalization can also be observed. According to theory, mammals and birds evolved from reptiles, reptiles from amphibians and amphibians from lobe-finned fish. You can easily observe that each of these groups still have living examles, so it is not part of the theory that the old goes away when the new evolves. Second, you should be able to see that each of these groups exploit different niches in the world's ecosystem, so that might make the first paragraph make a little more sense. Finally, and more subtlely, you may notice that even the oldest of these, the fish, have continued to adapt to life in the water, exploiting different niches and changing with time. So even the ancestor species can continue to adapt and survive going down a different path than the other descendents.