Evolutionary history Bonobo

fossils

fossils of pan species not described until 2005. existing chimpanzee populations in west , central africa not overlap major human fossil sites in east africa. however, pan fossils have been reported kenya. indicate both humans , members of pan clade present in east african rift valley during middle pleistocene. according a. zihlman, bonobo body proportions closely resemble of australopithecus, leading evolutionary biologist jeremy griffith suggest bonobos may living example of our distant human ancestors.

taxonomy , phylogeny

german anatomist ernst schwarz credited being first westerner recognise bonobo being distinctive, in 1928, based on analysis of skull in tervuren museum in belgium had been thought have belonged juvenile chimpanzee. schwarz published findings in 1929. in 1933, american anatomist harold coolidge offered more detailed description of bonobo, , elevated species status. american psychologist , primatologist robert yerkes 1 of first scientists notice major differences between bonobos , chimpanzees. these first discussed in detail in study eduard paul tratz , heinz heck published in 1950s.

the first official publication of sequencing , assembly of bonobo genome became publicly available in june 2012. deposited international nucleotide sequence database collaboration (ddbj/embl/genbank) under embl accession number ajfe01000000 after previous analysis national human genome research institute confirmed bonobo genome 0.4% divergent chimpanzee genome. in addition, of 2011 svante pääbo s group @ max planck institute evolutionary anthropology sequencing genome of female bonobo leipzig zoo.

studies showed chimpanzees , bonobos more closely related humans gorillas. in crucial nature paper reporting on initial genome comparisons, researchers identified 35 million single-nucleotide changes, 5 million insertion or deletion events, , number of chromosomal rearrangements constituted genetic differences between 2 pan species , humans, covering 98% of same genes. while many of these analyses have been performed on common chimpanzee rather bonobo, differences between 2 pan species unlikely substantial enough affect pan-homo comparison significantly.

there still controversy, however. scientists such jared diamond in third chimpanzee, , morris goodman of wayne state university in detroit suggest bonobo , common chimpanzee closely related humans genus name should classified human genus homo: homo paniscus, homo sylvestris, or homo arboreus. alternative philosophy suggests term homo sapiens misnomer rather, , humans should reclassified pan sapiens, though violate principle of priority, homo named before pan (1758 former, 1816 latter). in either case, name change of genus have implications on taxonomy of extinct species closely related humans, including australopithecus. current line between homo , non-homo species drawn 2.5 million years ago, , chimpanzee , human ancestry converge 7 million years ago, emergence of sahelanthropus, 3 times longer.

dna evidence suggests bonobo , common chimpanzee species separated each other fewer 1 million years ago. pan line split last common ancestor shared humans approximately 6 7 million years ago. because no species other homo sapiens has survived human line of branching, both pan species closest living relatives of humans , cladistically equally close humans. recent genome data confirms genetic equidistance.