Back in school, we were taught that monkeys are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. Though there are strong resemblances, how true could this be?
My Brother is a Monkey
As a matter of fact, scientists performed sequencing of the genome of chimpanzees. From the research, it has discovered that modern humans have 96% similarities to ape species. Due to the reason that chimpanzees are the closest living relatives, chimp genome is extremely useful in having better understanding of the human biology and anatomy as well as its evolution right next to human genome itself.
With this breakthrough, it can be a huge help among scientists in their mission in learning what is setting us apart from other mammals.
By doing a comparison of genomes both from chimpanzees and humans, researches identified a number of sequences of genetic codes that are differentiating chimp and humans. These sequences might hold the promise in discovering what created or where it all began for human-specific traits similar to speech.
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The project was actually performed by Chimp Sequencing and Analysis Consortium, which is comprised of international groups of scientists. The group consists of 67 researchers who coauthored the study which is detailed in journal Nature.