• Question: Why are chimpanzee so similar to us but yet so different?

    Asked by claralores14 to Carrie, Cedric, Ellen, Ines, Rupert on 13 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Carrie Ijichi

      Carrie Ijichi answered on 13 Mar 2017:

      We have similarities because we share a common ancestor but that was an incredibly long time ago so we’ve had a lot of time to develop differently since then. We’ve gone on to live very different existences and need to adapt to survive in these different environments so quite a lot had to change. Hope that helps!

    • Photo: Ellen Williams

      Ellen Williams answered on 13 Mar 2017:

      Chimps, Bonobos and humans all descended from a relatively recent common ancestor (estimates suggest 6 – 7 million years ago). We actually share about 98% of our DNA with both of those species. The main reason for our differences though is that although we share genes we aren’t all using the genes in the same way – and that is predominantly due, as Carrie says below, to our different lives.

      Great question!

    • Photo: Cedric Tan

      Cedric Tan answered on 13 Mar 2017:

      Great question! We have a common ancestor which is a primate and therefore we might share many similarities in our physical appearance. Nevertheless, humans and chimp have since evolved differently due to many factors but the environment has a large role to play. Living in the trees, chimps have structures that allow them to move from tree to tree easily, e.g. long arms and strong grip. Human however, became a group living species and have shorter arms because there is no need to climb trees.

    • Photo: Ines Goncalves

      Ines Goncalves answered on 13 Mar 2017:

      Chimpanzees are even more similar to us that you think and scientists are finding new similarities each day. Chimpanzees ma look a little hairier and they are certainly a lot stronger than us, but like us, they have a language, they us falls, they engage in warfare and they live in complex societies. The reason we’re different is because we’ve evolved to be different. We started off by inhabiting slightly different environments which changed in different ways, and we in turn make different “life choices”: we left the trees as forests turned into savannahs and with that change we become bipedal (we started walking on 2 feet instead of 4 limbs). With time, our genes changed through mutations and some turned out to be beneficial and so were kept. After all this time apart, we’ve accumulated enough mutations that our DNA is 2% different… makes you think just how many genes we have! Not all of them are functional, that is, these difference sin our DNA don’t all contribute to our different appearance and behaviour, but then again, few genes can make a lot of difference. It’s not the quantity but the quality.

    • Photo: Rupert Marshall

      Rupert Marshall answered on 13 Mar 2017:

      Interesting question! It’s all down to the genes. Over 90% of our genes are the same between chimps and us. But tiny differences in genes can create big differences in appearance and behaviour. Think of the variety of shapes and sizes of humans for a start. Take away appearance and think about just the behaviour: chimps and humans all eat, sleep, reproduce, cooperate, get aggressive and annoyed… It’s the higher level thinking and advanced use of tools that mark humans as different.

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