Chimps are more like humans than we knew

[Aegrus]

Here's a link to an article that basically says that young Chimpanzees have been observed playing with toys and thus using imagination, something it was once believed by society that only humans had.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/...with_dolls

Of course, fundies will continue to deny this, as they deny that we share about 98% of our DNA with Chimps and Bonobos. Most likely, they'll claim that this behavior was taught to them by humans or placed in Chimps by the devil to decieve us. Alternatively, they'll just say that it's completely fake.

[frankiej]

It is slowly happening! The darn apes are gonna take over earth!

[Anomalocaris]

Of course chimps are more like humans than some people would admit. I mean it would be pretty embarrassing for creationists to admit they are precisely like chimps.

But I have to say the notion that we share 98% of genes with chimps is evocative but can be misleading. For one thing, majority of the genes we share with chimps don't have any function, as far as we can tell. So the fact that they are the same between us and the chimp doesn't say much about just how physically and behaviorally different we are, since those are controlled only by genes that have functions. For another, the genes that are actually different between us and chimp are often not just a little different, but very different. So where we are different, boy, we are different.

The the upshot is, even if homo sapiens share 98 % of chimp's genes, we are physically and behaviorally far from 98% chimp. Creationist, I am not sure.

[Justtristo]

Of course chimps are more like humans than some people would admit. I mean it would be pretty embarrassing for creationists to admit they are precisely like chimps.

Hey comparing creationists to chimps is an insult to chimps.

[Ace Otana]

You don't get much dumber than a creationist, even when you compare creationists to any animal on this planet, even extinct ones like the do-do.
The dumbest things to walk the earth. An insult to not just mankind but nature to.

[Anomalocaris]

Of course chimps are more like humans than some people would admit. I mean it would be pretty embarrassing for creationists to admit they are precisely like chimps.

Hey comparing creationists to chimps is an insult to chimps.

Hey, all chimps are not born equal, you know. There are chimps who suffer from the congenital defect of being born without a brain.

[Aegrus]

Of course chimps are more like humans than some people would admit. I mean it would be pretty embarrassing for creationists to admit they are precisely like chimps.

But I have to say the notion that we share 98% of genes with chimps is evocative but can be misleading. For one thing, majority of the genes we share with chimps don't have any function, as far as we can tell. So the fact that they are the same between us and the chimp doesn't say much about just how physically and behaviorally different we are, since those are controlled only by genes that have functions. For another, the genes that are actually different between us and chimp are often not just a little different, but very different. So where we are different, boy, we are different.

The the upshot is, even if homo sapiens share 98 % of chimp's genes, we are physically and behaviorally far from 98% chimp. Creationist, I am not sure.

Of course. Much DNA is actually useless, the result of various ancient viruses and benign mutations adding on to our DNA without really having an affect. And of course, the simple fact that most basic cells classified as Eukaryotes function the same way (all have mitchondria, and so on) makes up a good amount of that number.

[popeyespappy]

Semi-related

A comparative analysis of chimpanzees and bonobos brains shows neuroanatomical differences that may be responsible for these behaviors, from the aggression more typical of chimpanzees to the social tolerance of bonobos.

http://www.wildbiology.com/research/Chim..._brain.asp

Studying the differences in the brains of bonobos and chimps may lead to new insights into aggressive behavior in people.