Many of us have probably gone to the zoo and seen chimpanzee’s human behavior; the way they wonder about their surroundings, the way they interact with each other and many other behaviors which leave us wondering whether we(humans) did really originate from apes . This has been a research subject to many groups of anthropologists who for many years have been searching for answers to why chimps act so much like humans. Aside from having 98% of their DNA similar to human`s, chimps also have culture in their groups where certain rules and regulations control how they live, mate and reproduce which resembles human societies. In human societies there are rules and regulations as well and punishments that you receive as a result of committing a crime which could vary based on the severity of the crime. Also we have leaders and those who make laws to ensure our society is being controlled and stabilized. We all have to fight to reach the top and become powerful and sometimes we do fail and have to give up and let the winners take the power. Although we do fight over land and territory, which in many cases results in wars and even world wars, we do have compassion towards one another and help those in need. These are characteristics of human race which separate us from other species. Although there are animals that we share some of these behaviors with, our closest animal relative( chimps) amaze us a lot more by their many human-like behaviors. Chimps too form societies where they have to fight to become leaders and have different levels of power that they assign to one another based on their physical strength. Chimps are amazingly intelligent, understand their individuality and are able to imitate one another`s behavior. The following video shows how a chimps solves a problem by imitation.
I remember in one of the lectures my professor explained how in a zoo there was an old chimp who had lost his sight and could not find the door to get out of the cage and needed someone to hold his hand and direct him to the door. So every play time when all chimps went out, one of the zoo keepers would hold the old chimps hand and take him outside. One day no one came to assist the him and so one of young chimps grabs his hand just like how the zoo keeper did and directed him towards outside. The following video shows a similar behavior of a young chimp helping an old one walk.
After watching this video and also other videos of chimps human-like behavior I kept on asking myself if chimps are able to learn skills like us, have compassion towards one another, understand their individuality and accept different levels of power in their society assigned to certain individuals then how much are they really different from us. I think many people would argue that with all that’s said, there is still a great amount of difference that separate us from chimps. I agree that there are differences between us but just the fact that they are able to adapt to different cultures, learn so quickly and copy human`s behavior is what keeps me wondering whether one day they could actually become us which takes us back to the first question of whether evolution is what made us who we are today.
as a biologist i have studied extensively the differences between humans and primates. We think that the DNA is very similar and the gap is between 10 and 2%. Not much considering the evolution in statistical terms. But what i think is funny is that many people look like chimps:-)...the way they move and the way they act, maybe that is proof enough that we share a common ancestor...
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