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Bonobos Join Chimps As Closest Human Relatives

sciencehabit writes "Chimpanzees now have to share the distinction of being our closest living relative in the animal kingdom. An international team of researchers has sequenced the genome of the bonobo for the first time, confirming that it shares the same percentage of its DNA with us as chimps do. The team also found some small but tantalizing differences in the genomes of the three species—differences that may explain how bonobos and chimpanzees don't look or act like us even though we share about 99% of our DNA."

27 of 259 comments (clear)

  1. Bonobo Chimpanzee by busyqth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What reason is there to consider the Bonobo and Chimpanzee different species?
    Is it just a matter of behavior? If so, has it been proven that the behavioral differences aren't cultural?

    1. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by i+kan+reed · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Assuming you're not trolling here:

      There's morphic phenotypes that are different, for one. Bonobos are actually a lot smaller than chimps as mature adults. They are also much less able to solve complex puzzles, a difference that persists even when raised in complete separation of others from their own species. There's also the biological definition of species that requires that they be able to interbreed, we have never seen that happen.

    2. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by wastedlife · · Score: 3, Informative

      I read about this yesterday on Ars. In the second-to-last paragraph, they talk about how Bonobos are well within the standard deviation for chimps, so genetically speaking, they should be the same species. I believe they were even once considered to be the same species, but were separated due to the size and behavior differences. In light of this new evidence, I believe it may cause them to be considered a "sub-species", much like dogs are to wolves.

      --
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    3. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Is it just a matter of behavior? "

      That too. Chimps will fuck you up, given the chance, Bonobos will just fuck you.

    4. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Informative

      Irrelevant. Geographic separation is a direct cause of speciation. Gene pools stop mixing, genetic drift pushes two similar groups far enough apart that they are no longer compatible.

    5. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

      They are also much less able to solve complex puzzles,

      I believe bonobos are usually considered to be more intelligent.

    6. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

      So Chihuahuas and Great Danes are different species?

      No. They may be physically incompatible, but they are not genetically incompatible. If you inseminate a Great Dane with Chihuahua semen, it would have fertile puppies. Additionally, they could both interbreed with dogs of intermediate size. If A is the same species as B and B is the same species as C, then A is the same species as C.

    7. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by jez9999 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I take issue with that campaign about bonobos being the most intelligent ape. Humans deserve at least an honourable mention.

    8. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's for history to decide. Which, of course, will be written by the victorious species. I for one preemptively welcome or future bonobo overlords.

      --
      Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
    9. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by brusk · · Score: 3, Informative
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    10. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by rthille · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Bonobos spent a greater percentage of their lives copulating. I think it's pretty obvious which species is more intelligent...

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    11. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by rthille · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not so. See "Ring Species"

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    12. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by pecosdave · · Score: 3, Informative

      I decided to look, I found this:

      Hybridizations

              Hybrids between common chimps and bonobos in captivity have occurred

      But I can't find a lot more than that. I was looking for pictures.

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    13. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by Smauler · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The ability to freely (without human intervention) interbreed and produce fertile offspring is central to the definition of what a species is.

      This definition is crap though. If animal A can interbreed with animal B, and animal B with C, but A cannot with C, then you cannot define the species. There are real world examples of this, albeit a little more convoluted : see the herring gull and lesser black backed gull.

    14. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by ZigiSamblak · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, that does explain why they don't visit Slashdot.

    15. Re:Bonobo Chimpanzee by Intropy · · Score: 3, Informative

      They aren't. Chimpanzee is a genus (Pan) not a species. Bonobo (Pan paniscus) is a species on chimpanzee. The other extant species of chimpanzee is the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Those two species of chimpanzee are diffierent species from one another for the same reason any other two species of animal in the same genus are, they can't reliably produce offspring that can themselves reliably produce offspring.

  2. No real surprise here by doston · · Score: 5, Funny

    Always figured they were closely related to man, considering how endlessly horny they are.

  3. 1% of three billion by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Three billion DNA pairs in human dna. 1% is 30 million. So we differ by 30 million dna pairs. To the layperson, saying we have 30 million differences explains the differences quite well versus 99% in common.

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    Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
    1. Re:1% of three billion by codewarren · · Score: 4, Informative

      The difference from humans to other humans can be 3 million base pairs, (0.1%), for perspective. 30 million (a factor of 10) doesn't seem like that much.

    2. Re:1% of three billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Humans have 23 chromosome pairs.... 46 chromosomes in total. In women, there are 2 X and in males, 1X and 1Y. Males of our species share 45/46 or 98% with females.

      Explains why I understand male monkeys much better than female humans

      Oooh Oooh Ah Ah Ah

  4. Re:False by dietdew7 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is she a bonobo or a chimpanzee?

  5. Re:Chimps? by alva_edison · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well dog == wolf == dingo is true, they are all Canis lupus (C. lupus familiaris, C. lupus lupus, C. lupus dingo).

    Coyote and Jackal (and occassionally wolf) are used for other species within the Canis genus, so are closely related.

    Foxes are members of the same sub-family, but a different genus, so the least related among the bunch.

    Also Canis Lupus and Canis latrans are able to produce viable offspring, but the viability decreases across generations. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canis_lupus_X_Canis_latrans

    --
    He effected a bored affect.
  6. No... by Kupfernigk · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Foxes are members of the genus vulpes (the ones we see around are vulpus vulpus). The wolf is canis lupus and the domestic dog is considered to be a subspecies, canis lupus familiaris. Coyotes are a different genus again. Jackal is not a taxonomic description. The dingo is a subspecies of canis lupus and is derived from domestic dogs run wild.

    So the GP is right, and you are creating a complete straw man. Wolf, dog and dingo are all part of the same genus but for historic reasons dogs and dingos are only formally called wolves, not in colloquial speech. Foxes and coyotes are from different genera and are not dogs. "Jackal" is a colloquialism. Because pan paniscus and pan troglodytes are in the genus pan, they can both quite properly be called chimpanzees, just as we refer to members of the genus homo as "men", though we are no more like h. afarensis than bonobos are like p. troglodytes. When I tell my dog not to behave like a little wolf, he can reasonably argue that he is one, just one adapted for a specific ecological niche.

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    1. Re:No... by Tyler+Durden · · Score: 4, Funny

      When I tell my dog not to behave like a little wolf, he can reasonably argue that he is one, just one adapted for a specific ecological niche.

      If your dog's making reasonable arguments then he's filling a rare ecological niche indeed. Impressive!

      --
      Happy people make bad consumers.
  7. Re:uninteresting consequence of the decimal system by SpeZek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We're related to just about every living thing on this planet that has a face. I think that's pretty mind blowing.

    Nope. We're related to every living thing on this planet full stop .

    After all, we all share the same ancestor if you go back far enough.

  8. Re:Nope... by Grayhand · · Score: 4, Funny

    I didn't come from no monkey's butthole

    It's an honest mistake. Most people just assume there's a family resemblance.

  9. I fail to see how this is surprising by Xtifr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Doesn't the evidence show that bonobos and chimps split from their common ancestor long after protohumans split from the common ancestor of all three? In which case, isn't this more-or-less exactly what you'd expect?