Fossil Vs DNA Smackdown - 'Dental Hominoids' And How Humans Are Closer To Orangutans Than Chimps

Thursday, June 18, 2009 - 13:28 in Paleontology & Archaeology

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the Buffalo Museum of Science say we've been making a mistake using DNA to contend that humans are most closely related to chimpanzees.  The fossil record says otherwise, they report in the Journal of Biogeography. Jeffrey H. Schwartz, professor of anthropology in Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences and president of the World Academy of Art and Science, and John Grehan, director of science at the Buffalo Museum, conducted an analysis of the physical features of living and fossil apes that suggested humans, orangutans, and early apes belong to a group separate from chimpanzees and gorillas. read more

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