Dear Science: Why aren’t apes evolving into humans?
But evolution doesn’t have a destination, and even if it did, humans are certainly not it. In many cases, evolution tends to favor simplicity above all else. That’s why creatures that live in caves lose their eyes, and whales — which are descended from terrestrial mammals — have almost no leg bones. Not even intelligence is sacred: sea urchins, which have no central nervous system, evolved from an ancestor with a brain.
.. Had the climate not changed 30,000 years ago, or if it had changed differently, the Neanderthals might have survived instead of Homo sapiens.
.. Creatures like chimpanzees and bonobos are capable of building nests, using rudimentary tools, appreciating beauty, and perhaps even mourning their dead — without our energy-guzzling big brains.