It is logical to tackle the genetic aspects via both genome-wide analyses and candidate gene studies. The challenge is to identify the many evolutionarily, physiologically, and biomedically important differences scattered throughout these genomes while integrating these data with emerging knowledge about the corresponding "phenomes" and the relevant environmental influences. The difference between the two genomes is actually not approximately 1%, but approximately 4%-comprising approximately 35 million single nucleotide differences and approximately 90 Mb of insertions and deletions. ![]() Humans and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor approximately 5-7 million years ago (Mya). Human cruelty is something Yvonne Vela Tona, a caretaker at Lola ya Bonobo, has seen up close.The chimpanzee genome sequence is a long-awaited milestone, providing opportunities to explore primate evolution and genetic contributions to human physiology and disease. When that happens, scientists say, we tend to suppress empathy and embrace cruelty. Studies show we may not even consider a stranger fully human if they belong to a group perceived as other and threatening. Humans do not share bonobos' assumption that every stranger is a potential friend. Since then, we humans have channeled our inner bonobo to share and cooperate on a massive scale.īut we've often acted more like chimps - whose murder rate in the wild is comparable to our own - when it comes to behaviors like violence against members of our own species. It's been about 6 million years since the death of the last common ancestor we shared with chimps and bonobos. "Humans can be a fantastic bonobo with a big heart or a very dangerous warrior," she says. Those are all traits you can see in humans, on a good day, André says. What all the science suggests is that bonobos have evolved in a way that predisposes them to sharing, tolerance, negotiation and cooperation. This time, the bonobo with food usually shared with the stranger first, then invited the friend to join in. Later, the scientists repeated the experiment with three bonobos, one of whom was a stranger. "But we were surprised to see that roommate is more important than favorite food." "In our mind, we thought that because of nice food they would first eat," Kwetuenda says. ![]() The bonobo with food was given a choice: eat alone, or use a special key to let in their neighbor. ![]() The fruit plate was topped with a type of cream Kwetuenda calls "bonobo sauce." ![]() Then they gave one of the animals a plate of prized food, like bananas or apples, which have to be imported. In one experiment, the scientists put two bonobos in adjacent rooms. They were done in Lola's "bonobo lab," a building that features room-size cages and a place for scientists to observe what happens inside them. The experiments were carried out by a team that included Kwetuenda and Brian Hare, a professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University. One way that bonobos differ from other great apes is in their eagerness to share, something that has been documented in a series of experiments here at Lola. But if a male were to become aggressive, all the females would rally around her to chase him into the forest. Semendua is smaller than many of the males around her.
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