The third chimpanzee summary

Genetic Similarity to Primates

The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond Jared Diamond explores the unique evolutionary traits that separate humans from other primates, while warning of our self -destructive tendencies. Did you know that a mere 1. 4% of our DNA separates us from chimpanzees? What makes us so uniquely human, yet so prone to destroying ourselves and others?

In The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond, we examine the dual nature of humanity, from our capacity for art to our dark history of genocide and ecological destruction.

Spoken Language Power

Science shows that humans are more genetically similar to other primates than previously thought. The similarities between humans and other primates aren't hard to spot. But exactly how genetically similar are we to our wild cousins, and which ones are our closest relatives? Scientists are now able to look at the human genome and calculate exactly how alike humans and apes are.

The results are pretty striking. We share 96. 4% of our genes with orangutans, 97. 7% with gorillas, and an incredible 98.

6% with chimpanzees. Effectively, that means that a mere 1. 4% of our DNA distinguishes us from chimpanzees. Of that percentage, only a small amount contains the genetic tools that helped us develop those attributes we consider uniquely human, such as language, art, and technology.

In fact, we're so genetically close to chimps that some scientists even consider us part of the same family. In older classifications, you'll find humans and chimpanzees classed in the same order, the primates, and the same superfamily, the hominoidea, but in separate families, the hominidae for humans and Pongidae for chimpanzees. However, one school of taxonomy, known as the cladistics, arranges species based on relative genetic distance. Using this method, humans and chimps are part of not only the same family, but even the same genus.

They conceive of not one but three separate species within the Homo genus, Homo troglodytes, the common chimpanzee, Homo paniscus, the bonobo, and us, Homo sapiens. Being in the same genus means the species are very closely related, so much so that sometimes they might be distinguishable only to experts. Take the willow warblers and the chiffchaffs as an example. These European birds share 97.

7% of the same DNA and look virtually identical, but they're less closely related to each other than humans are to chimps. So, we're a lot like our chimp cousins, but it's our few different characteristics, as well as art, technology, and language, that really mark our species out.