In the whole animal kingdom the animals closest to human beings in bodily appearance are the great apes . Perhaps, then, we should not expect them to differ greatly in their genetic make-up. The apes thought to be most similar to man are the chimpanzees. Up to 98% of their DNA is said to be the same as man’s. However, this estimate relates only to the genes, i.e. the less than 1.5% of DNA (known as exons) that codes for proteins, not the remaining, much less well researched 98.5% (known as introns). Present indications are that the introns of humans and chimps are not ‘junk’ but functional, and differ to a much greater degree.
Human DNA consists of approximately 3 x 109 nucleotides (bits of information, like letters of the alphabet), so even a difference of just 2% would represent some 60 million points of difference, all supposed to have occurred by chance over 6 million years and to have been selected and incorporated into the human genome because in the great struggle for existence they conferred an advantage.
Geneticists are, however, finding this way of defining the differences increasingly meaningless. Gene position, gene interconnections and gene regulation also play an important role, and it is consequently impossible to quantify the differences in terms of a precise percentage (Cohen 2007).
So far as our bodies are concerned, here are 18 differences between man and the great apes:
| Apes | Humans | ||
| 1. | Small brains, averaging about 400 cc (ancient apes had brains up to 530 cc)
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1. | Brain size is large but very variable, averaging about 1400 cc (fossils range from 700 to 1800 cc); humans have a highly developed cortex, wired differently from the chimp cortex
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| 2. | Have no neck – spine joins skull from the back; extensive muscular connections between head and shoulder, suitable for climbing
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2. | Have a neck – spine joins skull from below; head stabilised by nuchal ligament |
| 3. | Have a C-shaped spine for walking on all fours | 3. | Have an S-shaped spine for upright stance and walking
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| 4. | Jaws protrude, to see better upwards than downwards | 4. | Faces are flat, to see both upwards and downwards (necessary for walking)
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| 5. | 29 facial muscles for expression and recognition
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5. | 53 facial muscles for more complex social relationships
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| 6. | Small semi-circular canals in the inner ear | 6. | Large semi-circular canals in the inner ear, for balance in the vertical plane
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| 7. | Arms longer than the legs | 7. | Legs longer than the arms
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| 8. | Four hands for climbing; knuckle-walking on all fours | 8. | Feet unlike hands, suitable for walking rather than climbing
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| 9. | Knee joints do not lock upright
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9. | Knee joints that lock upright
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| 10. | Hairy body for heat insula- tion, no female pubic hair or male top lip; no long beard or moustache possible
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10. | Constantly growing hairs on top of head; hairy male face, pubic hairs, otherwise hair is sparse |
| 11. | Sclera of the eye brown, white rarely shown
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11. | Sclera are white, and often shown by use of extra face muscles, for expression
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| 12. | Hip joints do not extend fully upright so can only stand with bent legs | 12. | Hip joints extend upright; large buttock muscles and pelvic attachment areas aid running; additional buttock fat for beauty
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| 13. | Short Achilles tendon
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13. | Long Achilles tendon
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| 14. | Nails grow more like claws, very slowly
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14. | Finger and toe nails grow fast
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| 15. | Larynx and vocal cords capable of only simple sounds | 15. | Larynx and vocal chords capable of complex sounds, including singing
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| 16. | Ears sensitive to frequencies of 1-8 kilohertz | 16. | Ears sensitive to frequencies of 2-4 kilohertz, suitable for hearing speech
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| 17. | No hymen in female; male penis has a bone or baculum for erection; female fertility not hidden | 17. | Hymen in female; male penis made erect entirely by blood, and twice size of apes; female fertility hidden
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| 18. | Mammary glands purely for milk production; easy birth of young | 18. | Female breasts enhanced by body fat for beauty, birth of young slow and painful
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But far more separates man from the apes (and the rest of creation) than merely biological differences. Man is a spiritual being, with a capacity for thought and language. Although an animal in his flesh, he has a nature which potentially reflects the nature of God. Like a god he totally dominates the rest of the animal world and has been able to plumb the heights and depths of the entire universe, even to the extent of investigating and partially understanding his own DNA. Paradoxically, however, we are always wanting to deny the divine in our natures: to understand, measure and judge ourselves according to that which is lower rather than higher. That very ability to choose the beliefs which govern our lives sets us apart from all other animals.
Steve Jones, professor of genetics at University College London, says much the same thing when he observes, ‘Rights – and responsibilities – are exclusively human attributes. DNA is beside the point. … Chimps may resemble Homo sapiens in a tedious and literal sense, but in everything that makes us what we are H. sapiens is unique indeed.’
According to the book of Genesis, the highest reality is God, and man was created by him in order to be like him. He was made ‘in his image, after his likeness’. Darwinism is a philosophy which attempts to contradict the obvious differences between man and the other animals by suggesting that in the past the differences were much smaller. It seeks to minimise the divine in our nature and maximise the animal, in the hope that it will seem plausible to imagine an evolutionary transition from animal to human.
Having been endowed with the ability to think for himself, man can choose which of these views about himself to believe. It is, of course, no merely academic question: it will affect his life.
Further reading
Bramble, D. M. & Lieberman, D. E., 2004. Endurance running and the evolution of Homo, Nature 432:345-52.
Cohen, J., 2007. Relative differences: the myth of 1%, Science 316:1836.
Jones, S., 2007. View from the Lab, Daily Telegraph 26 June.
Spoor, F., Wood, B., & Zonneveld, F., 1994. Implications of early hominid labyrinthine morphology for evolution of human bipedal locomotion, Nature 369:645-48.
Tsiaras, A. & Wert, B., 2004. The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman: The Marvel of the Human Body Revealed, Doubleday.
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