Introduction:
Common Name: Chimpanzee
Scientific Name: Pan
Description: Chimpanzee faces are pinkish to black , and the apes bodies are covered with long black hair, but they are without a tail. They walk on all four legs and can pick up things with their thumbs. They also have dark lips.
Kingdom - Animal / Order - Primates / Phylum - Chordate / Family - Hominid / Genus - Pan / Class - Mammalia / Species - Troglodytes
Habitat: Chimps prefer dense tropical rain forests but can also be found in secondary grown forests, woodlands, bamboo forests, swamps, and even open savannas
Geologic Time: Neogene
Morphological & Molecular Evidence:
Closest Relatives - Bonobo Apes & Humans
- Bonobo Apes share 99.6% of DNA shared with chimps & have pink lips & are slender
- Humans share 99% percent of DNA with chimpanzees, & have thumbs, but they don't look anything like chimpanzees
Homologous Structure:
Humans, Bonobos, and Pandas all have thumbs just like the Chimpanzees which is an example of Homologous Structure.
This shows that humans can be could be a descendant of chimpanzees and related to pandas and gorillas, giving evidence of evolution that all living beings are related.
Vestigial Structures:
Chimpanzees share to major vestigial structures with humans called Darwin's Tubercle and the tailbone.
Darwin's tubercle (or auricular tubercle) is a congenital ear condition which often presents as a thickening on the helix at the junction of the upper and middle thirds.
Chimps also share a tailbone with species such as humans, gorillas, orangutans, and gibbons. This also shows that evolution took place showing that even though they don't have tails they still are connected to the species who do.
Transitional Fossil:
Chimps have only got major transitional fossils with humans.
The Ardipithecus ramidus had a brain the size of a chimp's, but probably walked upright on the ground, while still able to go on all fours in the trees, where it would find its opposable big toe useful.
Australopithecus afarensis was a more advanced walker, with nongrasping feet, but it still had the brain size of a chimpanzee. Probably not a direct ancestor of modern humans
Some transitional fossils were found that showed characteristics of humans and apes in one, but scientists aren't sure if they are actually related.
Sources:
https://allyouneedisbiology.wordpress.com/tag/chimpanzee/
http://genome.cshlp.org/content/15/12/1746.full
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_vestigiality
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccyx
Credits:
Created with images by Pixel-mixer - "chimpanzee mammal dangerous" • PatternPictures - "chimpanzee mother child"