Scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and the Buffalo Museum of Science have found evidence that, evolutionarily speaking,humans are closer to orangutans than chimpanzees.
Analyzing the physical features of living primates and the fossils of our ancestors, anthropologist Jeffrey H. Schwartz and his colleagues have concluded thathumans and orangutansbelong to a group separate from lchimpanzees and gorillas. Specifically, after analyzing almost a hundred physiological characteristics, they have shown that thehomo sapiensshares 28 unique traits with orangutans (I put pygmaeus), and only 2 with chimpanzees and 7 with gorillas. Furthermore, the orangutan also has many common traits withAustralopithecus, ancestor of modern man.
As Schwartz concludes in the latest issue of the magazineJournal of Biogeography, morphological analyzes suggest that there was acommon ancestor of humans and orangutans, different from the African ancestor of gorillas and chimpanzees. And he postulates that approximately 12 million years ago it migrated from Africa to Asia (where the orangutan originates from), crossing the forests that then extended throughout Europe.
The new data appears to contradict genetic analyzes, which show strong similarities between the human and chimpanzee genomes. ? There is no justification for making DNA prevail over morphological data; However, the relationship between humans and chimpanzees, deduced from molecular data, has been accepted without reservation until now ?, reflects from the study Malte Ebach, a researcher at the International Institute for the Exploration of Species in Arizona. And he adds that it is important for science to “question” theseparentescos in view of the newmorphological evidence.
