A recent study on human anatomy of a fossil calcaneus or heel bone comes to overrule the belief that people have similarities with chimpanzees. It seems that humans resemble more gorillas. The team of researchers examined the internal anatomy of the StW352 Australopithecus africanus (our human ancestor or hominin) fossil, taken from the fossil record in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage, in South Africa, which is 40km from Johannesburg. The researchers examined the orientation and structure of the spongy material inside the bone, called trabecular struts, in the fossil of Sterkfontein Member 4. What they discovered was that it had more similarities with gorillas than humans or chimpanzees. The great similarities of our human relative with gorillas exhibits resemblance in joint mobility and structure. Prior examinations conducted on the external anatomy of the Australopithecus calcaneus had revealed similarities with humans or chimpanzees. The recent study indicates how our ancestors moved and interacted with their environment over 2 million years ago. This is so because of the fact that the structure of the trabecular bone shows how creatures interact with their environment. The new discovery indicating resemblance with gorillas will help scientists understand the behavioral reconstructions of hominins. http://whiteker.com/humans-have-greater-similarities-with-gorillas-than-chimpanzees Paper (abstract): http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248416300343
That's unexpected. When Ardipithecus was discovered, she was found to be the earliest fossil that definitively displays traits that distinguish the human line of evolution from the chimpanzee line. Most importantly, Ardi has feet very much like ours, with only one prehensile toe (the hallux or "big toe") on each foot to assist in climbing trees to escape predators. Otherwise, Ardi has the anatomy of a bipedal walker, leaving the arms free to carry a huge armload of food back to the family. In other words, Ardi's anatomy was found to be so different from chimpanzees that she was identified as the first ape that spun off from the chimpanzee evolutionary line and established the human line 7 MYA.
Along with the common chimpanzee, the bonobo is the closest extant relative tohumans. Because the two species are not proficient swimmers, the formation of theCongo River1.5–2 million years ago possibly led to thespeciationof the bonobo. Bonobos live south of the river, and thereby were separated from the ancestors of the common chimpanzee, which live north of the river. There is no concrete data on population numbers, but the estimate is between 29,500 and 50,000 individuals. The species is listed asEndangeredon theIUCN Red Listand is threatened byhabitat destructionand human population growth and movement, though commercial poaching is the most prominent threat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
