Is a person's 1,000,000th cousin even a human being?

[Lemur866]

In humans, two chromosomes fused into one. In chimps, they stayed separate.

Chromosomes fuse and split all the time during evolution, it is very common for closely related species to have almost identical genese on different chromosomes.

Chimpanzee genome project

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Bytegeist

Out of curiosity, is it known whether we’ve lost 2, or chimps have gained 2?

Alternatively, perhaps our common ancestor had 47 chromosomes, and both species changed?

We’ve lost two. They come in pairs. An odd chromosome presents severe developmental issues, assuming the child survives.

And maybe 44 is the future.

[BubbaDog]

Is a person’s 1,000,000th cousin even a human being?

Heck, I have a second cousin who may not qualify.

[Chronos]

Also note that a human and chimp cousins would probably be some large number of times removed, since chimps have shorter generations than we do. So it’s been more generations to get from the common ancestor to the chimp than from the common ancestor to us.

[Apollyon]

@Chronos

Also note that a human and chimp cousins would probably be some large number of times removed, since chimps have shorter generations than we do. So it’s been more generations to get from the common ancestor to the chimp than from the common ancestor to us.

A bit like Arwen and Aragorn.

[BigT]

@Exapno_Mapcase

We’ve lost two. They come in pairs. An odd chromosome presents severe developmental issues, assuming the child survives.

And maybe 44 is the future.

Lost is not the best word, as they’ve combined somewhat.