Human 's Closest Living Representation

“In their natural homes in the wild, chimpanzees humans’ closest living genetic relatives”, who are more like us than they’re like gorillas are never separated from their families and troops . “Profoundly social beings, they spend every day together exploring, crafting and using tools to solve problems, foraging, playing, grooming each other, and making soft nests for sleeping each night” . They care deeply for their families and forge lifelong friendships . Chimpanzee mothers are loving and protective, nursing their infants and sharing their nests with them for four to six years . They have excellent memories and share cultural traditions with their children and peers . They empathize with one another and console their friends when they’re upset . They help others, even at a personal cost to themselves . When one of another

In Key Idea 2 I will be talking about what I learned about chimps. The book showed many things about chimpanzees that I did not know before. When someone is talking about any animals, the first thing that comes to many people’s minds is: They will never hurt somebody, they are always nice, and are not as smart as humans. Before I read this book that was my thought process about chimpanzees. I did not look at them any different than other animals. Although, after reading the book I realized chimpanzees are very smart and can be

Primates are one of the most interesting mammals on earth, not only because of their complex social structures, but because they hold so many similar characteristics to humans. Primates are often cited as our closest living relatives and on two separate occasions I observed four separate species of primates at the San Diego Zoo that can justify their use of their physical characteristics and behaviors that may be similar as well as different to the other primates and ours.

Despite a lack of scientific academic education, Jane Goodall’s work on the chimpanzees made revolutionary breakthrough in the field of understanding chimpanzee behavior. It was all made possible by her firm belief on her unconventional methods which academics in the field eyed with cynicism and felt was pointless. Such pessimistic outlook on her efforts from established academics did not blight her morale; instead she carried on with her methods of analyzing the chimpanzee population with full enthusiasm and self belief.

Bonobo’s are classified within the Genus Pan, Species paniscus.  Pan paniscus is commonly referred to as the pygmy/lesser/dwarf chimpanzee, and gracile ape.  The name bonobo is said to be meaningless, taken from a misspelling on a shipping crate headed to the town of Bolobo in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Primate Info Net) On an interesting note, some taxonomists suggest putting both chimpanzees and bonobo’s in the same Genus as humans, Homo, due to genetic similarities in the species because both are humans closest genetic relatives. (San Diego Zoo 2) (Wildman Et. Al. 2003)

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

The capuchin monkey is a New World monkey that belongs in the subfamily Cebinae. An adult capuchin monkey can grow anywhere between 12.6 to 22 inches in height excluding the tail, which can be anywhere from 15 to 22 inches in length. On average a capuchin monkey will have a body mass ranging from 2.4 to 7.3 pounds. Like all new world monkeys, the capuchin monkey has a 2:1:3:3 dental formulas which indicates that it has two incisors, one canine three premolars and three molars. Interestingly, the brain size of a capuchin monkeys is slightly larger than that of other new world monkeys. On average, male’s heads are larger than females, in fact they are 34% larger in body size and have canines that are 22% sharper than females . Capuchin monkeys

Chimpanzees (Figure 1) are the closest living relatives to us, and they share 99 percent of our DNA (1). Chimpanzees have distinct group territoriality. Male chimpanzees “patrol” near the boundary between the two ranges, at that time they move very carefully and quietly, and they can cease to listen and observe the range of their neighbors. Patrolling individuals are likely to face cruel and violent

Gorillas are ground dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests in central Africa. They are the largest living primates by physical size. They are highly similar and are the next closest living relatives of humans after the chimpanzees and bonobos. The genus Gorilla is divided into two species: the western and eastern gorillas.

Kavanagh, M. & Morris, D. (1983). Complete guide to monkeys, apes and other primates. London: Viking Press.

Before delving into elements of the pandemic, we must first examine primate behavior. Starting with morphology, both chimpanzees in the film and in reality have nostrils that face downwards and tubular ear bones (Borja). Their teeth are similar to that of humans’, but their canines are larger. Additionally, they both are dark in color with pale faces. However, chimps in the film and in real life differ when it comes to locomotion.

Spider monkeys and chimpanzees might seem the same, but they’re very different. For instance, they might have similar locations in central South America, they are different because chimpanzee cohabitant with species of their kind and or any different species of monkey, where as spider monkey's only cohabitat with of their own species. Also a chimpanzee is an ape and a Spider does not.(an ape is the same as a monkey, but an ape does not have a tail)There are more similarities and differences between spider monkey's and chimpanzees as you read on. Both spider monkeys and chimpanzees are on the endangered species list. Spider monkeys are on the endangered species list because of loss of habitat.

April 3, 1934 a leader was born. A leader by the name of Jane Goodall, an extremely well rounded, primatologist of our time. Although this may seemed distant to many, it was actually her calling. At the age of one, Goodall received a stuffed chimpanzee that her father Herbert Goodall gave to her. She named the chimpanzee Jubilee, which she still keeps with her in her home in England. That was the beginning of her curious mind. She opened many eyes on the situation with chimpanzees being harmed in the jungles and discovered that they are just like “us” humans.

Did you know that gorillas have 98% of their DNA identical to humans? In this paper I’m going to be teaching you about gorillas and their habitat. Gorillas are large apes that are native to Africa. They are typically divided into two groups. The mountain gorilla lives in the mountainous regions of central Africa, while the lowland gorilla lives in the flat, dense forests of central and western Africa.