Question

Bacteria have a simpler body plan when compared with human beings. Does it mean that human beings are more evolved than bacteria? Provide a suitable explanation.

Answer 1

This is difficult to state that organisms with complex body plan like humans are more evolved than the organisms with simpler body plan like bacteria. If progressive trend in evolution is the emergence of more and more complex body designs, human beings are certainly more evolved than bacteria. But on considering the totality of life characteristics into account, it is hard to label either organism as evolved. Because organisms older designs are not inefficient. Many of the older and simpler designs still survive e.g., the simplest life forms, bacteria inhabit the most inhospitable habitats like hot springs, deep-sea thermal vents and the ice in Antarctica. So, human beings are not the pinnacle of evolution, but simply yet another species in the teeming spectrum of evolving life.