Thursday, June 14, 2012

Bonobo Genome Mapped


Researchers have assembled the complete genome of the bonobo. Some details learned so far:
"Bonobos and chimps — which are very closely related but behave in strikingly different ways, with bonobos relying on sex and chimpanzees relying on aggression to resolve conflict — split from each other about 1 million years ago.
"Ancient humans split away from our common ancestor with bonobos and chimps about 4.5 million years ago.
"Perhaps the three species' shared ancestor was more like a chimp — and humans and chimps share genes, say, for aggression. Or perhaps the shared ancestor was more like a bonobo, with some other consequence for human traits.

"What branch do humans come from? Is it 'Make love, not war,' or 'Make war, not love'?" wondered  John Hawks, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin."
(Read the full report at LATimes.com)

No comments:

Post a Comment