Darwin's Theory: Relationship Between Chimps And Humans


Humans and non-human primates have many behaviors and characteristics in common. Apes and chimpanzees have been studies and closely watched for many years. Scientist and researchers and found many similarities between the apes and chimpanzees with humans. All three are hard working and work with tools. They also make these tools. Another similarity is the fact that they are very social with others of their breed. This is also true about other primates other than apes and chimpanzees, like lemurs, lorises, pottos, and tarsiers. Apes and chimpanzees are able to learn sign language and elementary math skills. All primates have nails instead of claws on their fingers and toes. Both non-human primates and humans all have opposable thumbs. They use these thumbs to be able to pick up things better and they are thumbs that are able to move and touch other parts of the same hand. Non-human primates, including humans, learn by watching their mothers and other family members. For example, chimpanzees learn to make stick tools to stick into holes to get termites to eat. They do this because the mothers never teach them

Darwin’s theory of evolution was a ground-breaking discovery for the study of life. Although Darwin gets most of the credit for the discovery his influences Charles Lyell, the father of geology and Erasmus Darwin, a pre-Darwinian evolutionist, made great contributions to the theory. The majority of the scientific community was quite receptive to Darwin’s evolution by natural selection theory because it provided an explanation for many things that the current origin of life theory, special creation, did not. The scientific community did have some trouble accepting his work because it did not describe how the evolving genes were transferred from generation to generation which was a very important piece of information that would solidify his for

Throughout the term, reading the book, “Through a Window” by Jane Goodall has been quite intriguing for me, in that it has inspired me with new ideas and perceptions about how our own species has evolved over time. I have really enjoyed seeing the many similarities that hominids share with other primate species, especially chimpanzees. Goodall’s research only further proves that we are not only extremely biologically similar to chimpanzees in our DNA, but have many behavioral similarities as well. The film, “Monkey in the Mirror” also shows support for our likeness in intellectuality. These documented findings on chimpanzee and human resemblances provides the strong evidence needed to conclude the fact that humans do indeed share a common ancestor with great apes.

According to my observation, even though Chimpanzee, and Gorilla are similar, they differ in many other ways when we go deeper in physical, and behavioral traits. However, both species also share the majority part of their DNA with Humans. Based on some reliable researches, some scientists realized that humans did not come from apes but instead shared common ancestors. As a matter of fact, humans and Primates are different, but share most of their genome, explaining why we found some similar patterns of behavior among humans, and

According to National Geographic, scientists have sequenced the genome factor of the chimpanzee and found that humans are 98.5% similar to the ape species. The chimpanzee is our closest relative in the animal kingdom; however, some people are not aware of our resembling traits with chimpanzees. Jane Goodall’s, In the Shadow of Man, describes some similar traits humans and chimpanzees have such as their facial expressions and emotions, use of tools, and diet.

For more than 150 years, a revolutionary idea has been spreading all over the world. It helped us discover our origins and revealed our place in nature. It led to the unification of once independent fields of scientific inquiry. And it is being used today to tackle some of the most pressing problems facing modern civilization. But its implications go far beyond science. It has shaped our culture, politics, philosophy and religion, and it has been used to justify war and genocide. That idea is Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or better known as HIV, has been in the United States since the mid to late 1970’s. HIV, if left untreated can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. Once HIV is contracted it is a life-long disease and as of today there is no cure for the virus. The virus works by destroying CD4, or T cells, and eventually destroys enough to break down the body’s ability to fight off infection and disease. If left untreated the virus will break down the CD4 cells and once these cell levels drop below 200 cells per cubic millimeters of blood you are then considered to have developed AIDS (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). The virus is thought to of come from West

We have always differences and similarities Humans, Bonobos and chimps are close relatives in evolution. Chimps and bonobos can be considered as siblings and humans as their first cousin. We are so similar in many aspects that humans seem to have a very marginal

In his own time, Charles Darwin was a controversial figure, and although long ago, that same controversy sparks today in the twenty first century. There were many who loved and many who hated Darwin, which has allowed the controversy to expand in recent years to include questions about his role in the development of the evolution theory. The theory of evolution was not created by Charles Darwin; however, through his On the Origin of Species, he logically expressed the theory which ultimately shifted the burden of proof from those who denied it to the supporters of evolution all of which was corroborated by careful observation.

Over one hundred fifty years after Darwin’s theory has been published, the evolution theory is still highly controversial. The idea didn’t go well with the public, Darwin was so embarrassed by the ridicule he received that the swimming-bear passage was removed from later editions of the book (Than). Darwin’s views brought him into fierce conflicts with others who continue to maintain that the account of divine creation contacted within the Bible was correct. According to Than, Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection is one of

There are many instances in Through a Window that showed me how alike chimpanzees and humans really are. For example, on page fifteen, Goodall talks about Lucy. Lucy is a chimpanzee that is trained as if she were a human. She is able to identify pictures and call them by their names, such as “blue” and “dog”. Although Lucy could not verbally say these words, she used American Sign Language, which I think is even more impressive! Chimpanzees are just like babies in this way, they soak up so much information and are able to apply it within their own life. Goodall compares humans and chimpanzees on page sixteen, showing how the anatomy of both brains are very similar, “There are equally striking similarities between humans and chimpanzees in the anatomy and wiring of the brain and nervous system, and – although many scientists have been reluctant to admit this – in social behavior, intellectual abilities and emotions.” It is also proven that chimpanzees can catch human viruses and diseases, unlike other non-human animals. Another example of how humans and chimpanzees are alike was shown when Goodall talked about the baby chimps. Infant chimps are in need of the same things as human infants, “And one cannot watch chimpanzee infants for long without realizing that they have the same emotional need for affection and reassurance as human children.” (Goodall, page 19). Not only do baby chimpanzees need love and affection like humans, they also learn by imitation. A

On Thursday 24 November 1859, Charles Darwin published and made available to the western world his magnum opus, On the Origin of Species, a compilation of some twenty plus years of research regarding the human biology and its advancement. Darwin proposed in Origins that all life slowly evolved, biologically mutated over a period of time, to its present day form. Expanding on prior research in the field of genetics, Darwin theorized a "survival of the fittest" complex which forced basic animals to evolve new advanced traits to survive in their respective environments, in the process theorizing that humans also evolved from lesser creatures. Darwin's theory of evolution was meet with critical response, mainly negative, at the time of its

While watching this video, I learned that humans and chimps have much more similarities than what I had previously believed. Female chimps like humans, tend to show their infants affection and safety. They will keep them within their grasps and try to keep other away to keep them safe, as well as show them affection by playing with them. Humans also show these characteristics with their infants, they will “shower them with love and care” in order to bring them up with the mentality that family equals safety and trust. However unlike, chimps humans will allow other to carry or show affection to their infants, while in the chimpanzee community the mother will not allow others to take their infants. There were many parts of this video that I found not

In 1895 Charles Darwin published a book describing his theory of evolution, and his theory of the natural selection process. This theory caused much uproar in the religious community because Darwin’s theory went against the story of creation portrayed in the Holy Bible. His theory claimed that all life currently in place had evolved and adapted from a single organism in the beginning. Over time and by process of natural selection only the dominant species were left over while the other, less dominant species, went extinct. His theory, backed by scientific analysis, had dismissed the idea of a single deity creating all life on Earth. It is not like Darwin had a personal agenda against religion or anything,

HIV becomes drug resistance when the ARV treatments’ are not adhered to. Once the patient has taken their antiretroviral (ARVs) medication then stops the HIV is able to replicate and will do so at a rapid rate. As a result mutations are very common (Jen Gorgan and Ruth Suter;2009)