# Genetically, Am I More Similar To A Male Chimp Or To A Female Human? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186 "2005-02-21T15:59:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186/1 "2005-02-21T15:59:42Z")
I’ve read several accounts that geneticists have discovered that chimps typically have somewhere around 98-99% of the same genes that people do. How does this figure compare to the genetic difference between the average human male and the average human female? As a male human, I must admit that a feel a stronger sense of kinship whenever I’m at the zoo watching the monkeys go about their business than I feel watching a group of women together. Could this be justified by my DNA? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186/2 "2005-02-21T16:10:01Z")
I have to think if you were more similar to a chimp, you’d be another chimp. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186/3 "2005-02-21T16:16:20Z")
I suggest you try mating with a chimp and find out. Experimentation is the hallmark of good science. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186/4 "2005-02-21T16:23:58Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > How does this figure compare to the genetic difference between the average human male and the average human female? Human males have ALL of the same genes as human females - barring genetic disorders - plus some extra ones in the Y chromosome (females have two X chromosomes, males have just the one, but all the genes are there). Of course not all the genes are _expressed_ in the same way, or at all. ---
**Author:** ![Sevo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sevo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186/5 "2005-02-21T16:28:21Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > As a male human, I must admit that a feel a stronger sense of kinship whenever I’m at the zoo watching the monkeys go about their business than I feel watching a group of women together. Could this be justified by my DNA? No. But being male, it is probably justified by your behavior. We don’t often fling poo because the ladies don’t like that, but we might if we thought it was funny and the guys would get a laugh…and…uh…I sense I’ve already crossed the line… Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186/6 "2005-02-21T16:28:29Z")
[Another thread on this in GD.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=299138&) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186/7 "2005-02-21T16:34:59Z")
Generally quoted figures for the genetic similarity of human populations is 99.9%, while that between humans and chimps is 98-99%. (The figure for chimps is for structural genes; the figures for non-coding parts of the genome are lower.) There are evidently fewer than 100 genes on the Y-chromosome. A low estimate for the total number of human genes is about 20,000, so that the genes on the Y-chromosome make up less than 0.5% of the total. On this basis, human males and females would be 99.5% similar, ignoring any additional variance in the autosomal genes. This is a very simplistic comparison, but on this basis the variance between humans and chimps substantially exceeds that between human males and females. > [@Surreal](#): > > As a male human, I must admit that a feel a stronger sense of kinship whenever I’m at the zoo watching the monkeys go about their business than I feel watching a group of women together. Could this be justified by my DNA? It’s possible, but only if you happen to be a human-monkey hybrid. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186/8 "2005-02-21T17:49:11Z")
I’m sure women look at us and also see us as very similar to the primates in the cages. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186/9 "2005-02-21T19:31:50Z")
> [@](#): > > There are evidently fewer than 100 genes on the Y-chromosome. A low estimate for the total number of human genes is about 20,000, so that the genes on the Y-chromosome make up less than 0.5% of the total. O My understanding on the Y chromosome is it’s not ‘building’ instructions, but redirects building given instructions on other genes. This allows it to be shorter. In other words, You have the instructions to build a deck, it’s 50 pages long. Following the instructions you will only use pages 1-40. If you have the Y update page, it basically says when you get to page 29, go right to page 41. A very short instruction doesn’t need much space, hence it is very short, but the real instructions are somewhere else, so it’s effect is much. This is how it was explained to me many moons ago. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186/10 "2005-02-21T20:08:58Z")
I remember awhile back I read that humans and chimps are so closely related (98.5%) that we could theoretically produce a human-chimp hybrid. But then awhile after that I read an article in national geographic where newer studies have shown they are only about 95% related and while that seems a small difference it’s enough the chimp-humans wouldn’t be possible. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186/11 "2005-02-21T21:24:51Z")
> [@Martin Hyde](#): > > I remember awhile back I read that humans and chimps are so closely related (98.5%) that we could theoretically produce a human-chimp hybrid. > > But then awhile after that I read an article in national geographic where newer studies have shown they are only about 95% related and while that seems a small difference it’s enough the chimp-humans wouldn’t be possible. The figure you come up with depends on how you do the calculation. You will get different figures depending on whether you just include structural genes (those which code for proteins), or the entire genome (much of which is non-coding, and more variable than structural genes). Also, genetic variation consists not only in single-nucleotide differences, but also chromosomal deletions, inversions, translocations, duplications, and other factors. (For example, humans and chimps have different numbers of chromosomes.) It is difficult to put a percentage value on these latter differences. We have discussed the possibility of human-chimp hybrids here a number of times. Given the fact that animals a good deal different than humans and chimps can sometimes produce hybrids (e.g. camel and llama), based on present knowledge it’s really impossible to say whether or not a human-chimp hybrid would be possible without actually making the experiment. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetically-am-i-more-similar-to-a-male-chimp-or-to-a-female-human/291186/12 "2005-02-21T21:32:09Z")
> [@Martin Hyde](#): > > I remember awhile back I read that humans and chimps are so closely related (98.5%) that we could theoretically produce a human-chimp hybrid. > > But then awhile after that I read an article in national geographic where newer studies have shown they are only about 95% related and while that seems a small difference it’s enough the chimp-humans wouldn’t be possible. The differences between functional human and the common chimp (_Pan troglodytes_ DNA is [pretty minimal](http://www.answers.com/topic/common-chimpanzee), all told. The lack of homologation between the number of chromosomes–humans contributed 23 each, common chimps 24, human C2 being a combination of two chromosomes found in chimps–would prevent “true” breeding, as with donkeys and horses, but woudln’t necessarially prohibt some kind of hybridizations like [mules](http://www.seps.org/oracle/oracle.archive/Life_Science.Genetics/2002.02/001013895858.12055.html). Rumors of human/chimp hybrids about, but seem quite unlikely. A “human” baby born to a chimpanzee would probably die in birth (if not gestation) due to the massively oversized infant head, and–well, I just can’t imagine a human female making it with a chimp, but I guess stranger things have happened. I don’t know of any verified case of this. As for the question posed by the OP, looking at the raw percentage of like DNA is badly misleading. We share a substantial amount of DNA in common with all vertebrates, and quite a bit even with other phylum. The thing to look at is the average variation of active DNA in humans as opposed to that between humans and chimps. From the link above: > [@](#): > > In December of 2003, a preliminary analysis of 7600 genes shared between the two genomes confirmed that certain genes such as the forkhead-box P2 transcription factor, which is involved in speech development, have undergone rapid evolution in the human lineage. Several genes involved in hearing were also found to have changed rapidly during human evolution, suggesting selection involving human language-related behavior. \*\*Differences between individual humans and Common Chimpanzees are about 10 times the typical difference between pairs of humans. [emphasis mine] > \*\* So, one can say that there is about a 900% difference (roughly speaking) between the human intraspecies variation and human-chimpanzee interspecies variation. As others have noted, the size of the Y chromosome is minimal (and good thing or we’d probably see a lot more replicative errors) and it acts mostly as a trigger that turns on and off other genes the select for sex. (This also brings into question the strict male/female dichotomy–transgendered folk may have very legitimate, physiological reasons to feel like they have the wrong plumbing, even if the chromosome stack says otherwise.) Stranger