It's no big surprise. The largest genome in the animal kingdom is also not those of humans. In fact, some very small and appearently primitive and simple animals have considerably more genes then we do.
Flaws in the cell reproduction process often cause extra copies of existing genes to be made and inserted into the cell's genome. If the error happen to occur in the reproduction of cells related to the organism's own reporduction, then the extra copies of genes are passed onto the descendants. In this way, many organisms accummulated very large inventory of unused duplicate genes, giving them a superficially very large genome, although most of the genes don't actually do anything within the organism.
Flaws in the cell reproduction process often cause extra copies of existing genes to be made and inserted into the cell's genome. If the error happen to occur in the reproduction of cells related to the organism's own reporduction, then the extra copies of genes are passed onto the descendants. In this way, many organisms accummulated very large inventory of unused duplicate genes, giving them a superficially very large genome, although most of the genes don't actually do anything within the organism.
