The great apes’ guide to human nature

By Daniel P. Smith – Phys.org

What can chimpanzees teach us about ourselves? A lot, says Craig Stanford, who’s spent three decades studying the lives of our closest cousins.

Humans share upwards of 98% of their DNA with the great apes—gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans—and Stanford, a professor of biological sciences and anthropology, looks to the nonhuman primates for insights into human evolution and the origins of our behavior.