Chimps and humans split 4 million years ago

Chimps and humans split 4 million years ago
mongabay.com
February 23, 2007

Chimp in Uganda, photo by R. Butler

New research using DNA analysis suggests that chimpanzees and humans split from a common ancestor just 4 million years ago -- much earlier than the 5-7 million years currently accepted by biologists. The study is published in Public Library of Science journal PLoS Genetics.

The researchers -- Asger Hobolth (North Carolina State University), Ole F. Christensen (University of Aarhus), Thomas Mailund (University of Aarhus / University of Oxford), Mikkel H. Schierup (University of Aarhus) -- compared the DNA of humans with three other species of great apes -- chimpanzees, humans, gorillas, and orangutans -- to develop a "molecular clock" estimate of when humans diverged.

"Primate evolution is a central topic in biology and much information can be obtained from DNA sequence data," the authors wrote. "Assuming orangutan divergence [18 million years] ago, speciation time of human and chimpanzee is consistently around 4 [million years ago]."

Sharing about 96 percent of their DNA, chimps are humans' closest living relatives. Gorillas and orangutans are less closely related.

The study comes the same day that a paper in the journal Current Biology reported the use of tools by chimpanzees in West Africa for hunting smaller primates.

Comments?

News options News index | RSS | Add to MyYahoo!

Advertisements:

Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing

MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)

CONTENTS

Rainforests
Tropical Fish
News
Madagascar
Pictures
Kids' Site
Languages
Blog
Forum
Newsletter
About
Contact
Archives
Interns
Help