Orangutans, not chimpanzees, are the closest relatives of humans

Evidence in research by the University of Pittsburgh and the Buffalo Science Museum has confirmed that the theory of origin suggests that humans share an ancestor with orangutans (orangutans). In the report published June 18 in the Journal of Biogeography, the study authors stated that the previously popular theory held that people with close relations with chimpanzees were based only on DNA analysis and no fossil evidence should be reviewed.

Jeffrey H. Schwartz, professor of anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh, and John Grehan, director of the Buffalo museum science, conducted a detailed study of the physical characteristics of fossil apes and monkeys. Tails today to come to the conclusion that humans, orangutans, and primordial apes do belong to a group separated from chimpanzees and gorillas. Then they developed a hypothesis about the common ancestor process of the orangutans who migrated between Southeast Asia - where orangutans are now living - and other parts of the world and gradually evolved into apes. extinction and early humans.

The study provides clearer evidence of the relationship between people and apes that Schwartz previously mentioned in "The Red Ape: Orangutans and Human Origins, Revised and Updated" (roughly translated as "Monkey red tail: orangutan with human origin, summarized and updated "(Westview Press, 2005).

New evidence confirms the theory of origin, that humans have the closest relationship with orangutans. (Photo: iStockphoto / Derek Dammann)

Schwartz and Grehan have scrutinized hundreds of body characteristics that are considered evolutionary evidence between humans and large-sized apes - chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans - and selected 63 characteristics that are considered unique and unique in this group, which does not appear in any other primates. Among them, the analysis showed that people share 28 characteristics with orangutans, two characteristics in common with chimpanzees, 7 with gorilla, and 7 with all three species . Gorilla and chimpanzees share 11 common characteristics.

Schwartz and Grehan then examined 56 common characteristics of the group, including modern humans, fossil animal ancestors - ancestors, such as Australopithecus - and fossil apes. They found that orangutans shared eight characteristics with primitive people and Australopithecus, together with seven traits with Australopithecus alone. The existence of orangutans on Australopithecus contrasts with the results from DNA analysis that ancestors are closest to chimpanzees. Meanwhile, chimpanzees and gorillas share only the same characteristics with large apes.

Schwartz and Grehan separate people, orangutans, and fossil apes into a group in which all three species have thick enamel. They called chimpanzees and gorillas as African apes and wrote in Biogeography that, although these two species are "siblings" of the thick-toothed animal family, "African apes have few ties. relatives with humans than orangutans and many other fossil apes. "

However, researchers admit, primitive human fossils and apes are mostly found in Africa, while modern orangutans are found in Southeast Asia. To explain this difference, they argue that perhaps the common ancestors of people and orangutans migrated between Africa, Europe and Asia at least 12 to 13 million years ago. . Plant fossils show that forests once expanded from southern Europe to Central Asia and China before the Himalayas were formed, Schwartz and Grehan wrote so when they suggested that the animals with thick enamel could be Having stayed throughout this large area, until the Earth's surface and indigenous ecosystems change, their descendants become geographically isolated from each other.

Schwartz and Grehan compare this hypothesis with another hypothesis that humans have the closest kinship to chimpanzees. They write that, because there are no more than 500,000-year-old African apes fossils, a series of complex hypotheses have been proposed to prove that African apes are descendants of early migrant apes. from Africa to Europe. Accordingly, the European apes split into a species that continued to travel to Asia, and a species returned to Africa so that it would later evolve into humans and modern apes. Schwartz and Grehan argue that these hypotheses are not consistent with existing morphological and biogeographic evidence.

Biologist - anthropologist Peter Andrews, former head of the Human Origin team at London's Natural History Museum, co-authored "The Complete World of Human Evolution" (roughly translated as "The World of Evolution"). of Humanity ") (Thames & Hudson, 2005), argued that Schwartz and Grehan provided compelling evidence to prove their hypothesis. Andrews did not participate but had a deep understanding of the work of the two researchers.

"They have convincing morphological evidence, we need to acknowledge this, and if now an argument arises between molecular biologists and morphologists, they will have more many advantages, " Andrews said. "They are going against the previously recognized explanation of the relationship between humans and apes, and their conclusions will be challenged, but I hope every challenge will posed with constructive nature, because of scientific progress, by asking questions and examining results. "

Schwartz and Grehan said in the Journal of Biogeography that the obvious similar physical characteristics between humans and orangutans have long been overshadowed by human-related molecular analyzes with chimpanzees, but comparisons this molecule is often faulty: There is no theory that the same molecular characteristics are indicative of evolutionary relations; Molecular studies often ignore orangutans and focus on a group of primates without any comparison with any other species outside the group; and molecular data goes against the common genetic traits that are often removed.

"They hit the problems of molecular analysis," said Malte Ebach, a researcher at Arizona State University's International Institute for Species Relations.

"Paleontology - anthropology is a subject based solely on morphological research, and there is no scientific basis to suggest that DNA data is more accurate than morphological data. To date, close relations are between humans and chimpanzees based on molecular data that has been widely acknowledged without any consideration and testing Schwartz and Grehan not only offer a new theory of origin between humans and orangutans, but also confirmed an important scientific practice on data criticism. "

Refer:

John R. Grehan1 and Jeffrey H. Schwartz.Evolution of the second orangutan: phylogeny and biogeography of hominid origins.Journal of Biogeography, 2009 DOI: 10.1111 / j.1365-2699.2009.02141.x