are humans and apes related
In addition to the great apes, the family Hominidae includes our species, Homo sapiens. In the past, there also were other species of humans as well as hominids more similar to us than the chimpanzees and bonobos. They will be described in the last three tutorials of this series. The sequence divergence of the Xq13.3 region is surprisingly low between humans and chimpanzees. Mutations altering the amino acid sequence of proteins (K a) are the least common. In fact ~29% of all orthologous proteins are identical between human and chimpanzee. The typical protein differs by only two amino acids. 1 For most DNA sequences, humans and chimpanzees appear to be most closely related, but some point to a human-gorilla or chimpanzee-gorilla clade. 2  The human genome has been sequenced, as well as the chimpanzee genome. 3  Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, while chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans have 24. So Much Alike... Human and chimp DNA is so similar because the two species are so closely related. Humans, chimps and bonobos descended from a single ancestor species that lived six or seven million years ago. With the exception of these differences, we are quite similar to the African apes anatomically and genetically, especially to the chimpanzees and bonobos. Humans have 46 chromosomes in their cells while all of the great apes have 48. As humans and chimps gradually evolved from a common ancestor, their DNA, passed from generation to generation, changed too. In fact, many of these DNA changes led to differences between human and chimp appearance and behavior. © AMNH Exhibitions. The comparatively minor anatomical differences between humans and apes are largely a result of our habitual bipedalism. A number of changes in our bodies were related to the evolution of this form of locomotion. Unlike apes, our arms are relatively short and weak compared to our legs. Humans share many traits with other apes, and those other apes (i.e., non-human apes) don't have unique features that set them apart from humans. Humans have some features that are uniquely our own, but so do gorillas, chimps, and the rest. Hominid evolution should not be read as a march to human-ness (even if it often appears that way from narratives of human evolution). Students should be aware that there is not a dichotomy between humans and apes. Humans are a kind of ape. SEM image of human chromosomes, showing centromeres and chromatids (magnification: x6,100). The chimpanzee and another ape, the bonobo, are humans' closest living relatives. These three species look alike in many ways, both in body and behavior. To begin with, let's take a step back. Although the evolution of hominid features is sometimes put in the framework of apes vs. humans, the fact is that humans are apes, just as they are primates and mammals. A glance at the evogram shows why.
Yes