What Links Us to Our Closest Living Relatives

Why It Matters

These comparisons underscore the evolutionary and medical relevance of studying primate anatomy: shared structures inform our understanding of human biology, evolution, and can guide comparative medical research.

Summary

The speaker highlights close anatomical similarities between humans and our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and gorillas, noting that some bones—like the humerus and joints—are nearly indistinguishable, while other structures such as the pelvis, legs and skull are markedly different. He emphasizes primate-specific traits in hands—fingernails and opposable thumbs—shared across apes and increasingly less similar in more distant relatives like lemurs and lorises. The overall message is that anatomical resemblance tracks evolutionary relatedness, with chimpanzees showing the most pronounced similarities to humans.

Original Description

Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives, and we share a lot of physiology with them, says biological anthropologist and broadcaster Alice Roberts. For example, a female chimpanzees humerus is about the same size and shape as a human's, fingernails is a is a primate thing, they all have opposable thumbs and the more you look, the more similarities you start to see.

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