How Are Chimpanzees and Humans Different?
Chimp and human genomes share about 99% of the same DNA sequencing and a common ancestor—the chimpanzee-human's last common ancestor (CHLCA). However, there are a few genetic differences between human-chimpanzee genomes that separate us, such as:
- Chimps walk on all fours. Chimpanzees mainly move around on all four limbs, much like gorillas and monkeys, though they can move bipedally.
- Chimpanzees can’t swim. Chimps have a low ratio of body fat and a top-heavy composition that makes it impossible for them to swim. While they’ll splash around in shallow waters, they can’t float or swim well in deeper waters. However, most humans with different body compositions can learn to swim or tread water.
- Chimps have shorter lifespans. Most chimpanzees only live in the wild for 40 to 50 years (potentially 50 to 60 in captivity), while humans can live past 100 years of age.
- Humans have bigger brains. Even though chimpanzees have larger brains than most mammals, human evolution has helped the human brain grow three times as large as their non-human counterparts. The human brain’s cerebral cortex contains twice as many cell types as a chimpanzee, affecting processes like memory and attention. In the early phase of brain development, human brain cells spend more time in the metaphase of cell division, possibly contributing to the differences in primate evolution.
- Chimps have an extra chromosome. While human genomic makeup only consists of 23 pairs of chromosomes, other great apes have 24. Research projects aimed at the study of chimpanzee genomes have revealed the possibility that during the evolution of human lineage, two ape chromosomes fused to create what is known as the early human origin. Over time, nucleotide variability and altered transcription factor binding led to the evolution of human-specific genes, allowing humans to develop verbal communication and other language behavior, excelling past primate evolution.[tex]\left[\begin{array}{ccc}copied\\yung nasa\\taas\end{array}\right][/tex]