The latter is definitely the case in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series – the third-person narrator often makes passing reference to evolution, such as saying that the magical spell that transformed the Unseen University librarian into an orangutan knocked him back down the evolutionary tree and then forward along another branch.
I can’t remember if any of the human(oid) characters believe in evolution, but there’s a subplot dealing specifically with evolution in Interesting Times.
There’s also a God of Evolution in the Last Continent, but that’s neither here nor there.
It’s more sci-fi than fantasy, at least in terms of technology, but C J Cherryh’s Chanur series posits an intelligence space-going race descended from lions rather than apes. I don’t think it’s ever spelled out, it’s just clear in their attitudes, culture, looks, etc.
That’s actually the one I was thinking of, I mixed up “Rincewind goes to China” with “Rincewind goes to Australia”.
Ponder Stibbins does in a number of places. Specifically in Hogfather, when Ridcully wonders if apes get visited by the Hogfather earlier than humans. Ponder mistakenly ascribes this to Ridcully accepting his theory of evolution, whereas Ridcully was thinking alphabetically.
Si
In the setting for the computer game, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. Elves are very disappointed to learn they share common ancestry with humans and orcs