If we evolved from monkeys why are there still monkeys?

After the publication of “On the Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin, Evolution through natural selection was rather quickly adapted by scientists. However, in its infancy scientists imagined evolution as linear and progressive. Early expectation in scientific communities was that modern humans evolved from existing ape populations gradually, and that there had to be fossil evidence that link humans to apes.

Depiction of human evolution in popular culture, wrongly implying that evolution is linear and progressive.

- Why aren’t apes evolving into humans anymore?
- Why Is “The Missing Link” Still Missing?
- Have We Evolved From Apes?

In the late nineteenth century, a common misinterpretation of Charles Darwin’s work was that humans were lineally descended from existing species of apes. To accept this theory some fossil ape-man seemed necessary in order to complete the chain. In popular culture, this ape-man was named as the link between modern human and contemporary ape species.

After scientists and science enthusiasts spent millions on searching the missing link and pouring thousands of man-hours into it, eventually, we have discovered that humans have not evolved from existing ape species. It is just that millions of years ago humans and primates were the same species. There has never been a species that linked humans to existing ape species.

If we evolved from monkeys …