Similarities between humans and african apes - Grade 12 Life Sciences

Hey, it's Farran MFeyen, welcome to Educate a Great Horse. Today we'll be doing the similarities between humans and African apes in human evolution. This is part two of our series, stay tuned. So basically, we say that we are actually evolving from a common ancestor. We actually share an ancestor with African apes. As humans, we share a common ancestor with African apes. So basically, don't just write apes here. It is African apes specifically. It is African, African apes. So humans and African apes have got a common ancestor. This simply means that we've evolved from the same species, the same species, like we are coming from the same organism in the sense, yes, we're coming from the same organisms. But if that organism actually evolved and speciation occurred to form humans and to form African apes. All right, let's clear this up. When we're talking about African apes, what are we talking about? The examples of African apes that we have is chimpanzees. A chimpanzee is an African ape. So it's chimpanzees. And then another example of African apes that we have is gorillas. A gorilla is an African ape. And then another African ape that we have, it is bonobos, B-O-N-O-B-O-S, bonobos. It's an example of an African ape. And then also orangutans, yes, orangutans is the last example that I have. So all of these are known as African apes, OK? They all belong to the family hominidae, OK? So now they're hominids, they're hominids, they belong to the family hominidae. Now let's look at the similarities between humans and apes, because basically the scientists looked at the similarities between us humans and African apes and chimpanzees and gorillas, and they thought that we're actually coming from a common ancestor. What are those similarities? Starting with number one, all of us have got larger brains relative to the body size. Did you know that your head weighs more than the parts of your body? I don't know if you believe that, but basically we have got a larger brain if we relate it to the size of the body. So basically humans and African apes, all of them have got a larger, they've got larger brains relative to their body size. If you compare this to a chicken, a chicken has got very, very, very, very small brain if you compare it to its size of the body, OK? But us humans and African apes, when I say African apes, I'm talking about chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, orangutans. So they can say similarities between humans and chimpanzees is still the same thing, but they can say similarities between humans and gorillas is still the same thing. They can say similarities between humans and orangutans is still the same thing, right? So all of us have got larger brains compared to the size of our body. So the size of our body is smaller compared to our brains in a sense, compared to other animals. Then we've got two eyes in front of the head to provide binocular vision. So as humans, we have binocular vision. You can see me right now, guys. As handsome as I am, you can see that I've got two eyes in front of what? In front of my eyes, right? Similarly, the apes, the African apes, which are the chimpanzees, the gorillas, the bonobos and orangutans, they also have got two eyes in front of their head. You can see that here, this is an eye, this is an eye. If you take a chicken, a chicken does not have eyes in front of the head. One eye is on the side, another one is on the side, OK? So we are definitely not having that similarities with chickens. But basically, as us humans and African apes, all of us have got two eyes in front of our head. Then we've got freely rotating arms that allows us to swing and also to pick fruits. OK, so basically, if you look at your hand, this is your arm. It is freely rotating. You can rotate it. Yes, as I'm doing that now, you can rotate it, right? So African apes and humans, all of them, they can rotate their arms and this allows them to swing. For example, you know, these chimpanzees and the African apes, for them to swing on the trees from tree to tree, from branch to branch, they use that feature, OK? Their arms are freely rotating. If you take a chicken, a chicken has got only one leg and that leg is not doing anything, OK? But if you take humans, we've got freely rotating arms. Our arms just rotate freely, OK? So this allows us to do certain things such as swinging and picking fruit. Right now, I'm holding a pen because I've got a freely rotating arm. That's one of the similarities. We've got long upper arms as well. We've got long upper arms. Yes, our upper arms here, they are long, just like mine here. And then we've got nails instead of claws. Basically, when I talk about nails, we're talking about these nails here. This is nails, OK? So as humans and African apes, I'm talking about the chimpanzees and the gorillas. All of us have got nails, OK? Here, you can see that here, this is a... I think this is a gorilla, if I'm not mistaken. But it's just a chimpanzee, OK? And then here, you can see that it is having nails instead of having claws. When you look at a chicken, a chicken basically... No matter, let's just say a hen, OK? A hen. I don't know if chicken is a meat or what, but basically, a hen does not have nails. A hen doesn't have a mazipo. Basically, those are known as claws. Bears have got claws. But as humans and African apes, we've got nails instead of claws. So these nails, they protect our soft finger pads. Basically, our fingers are very soft here. Behind the nails is very, very, very soft and sensitive. So these nails are made to protect us, OK? So basically, you can see Uti here. We are having this female gorilla showing us our nails. You can see it's a funugona amazipuak. So basically, let's look at now the opposable thumbs. So as humans and African apes, we all have got opposable thumb. A thumb is this finger here. This is known as the thumb. This finger here is known as the what? As the thumb. So this thumb is opposable. So it is opposite to the other fingers. Look at these other fingers. These are the four fingers that you are having, right? And then we're having the thumb. So this thumb here, it is opposite. You can see that when you're holding something, it goes opposite to the what? To the other fingers. So this actually allows you to grip objects. This allows you to hold objects. You cannot hold an object without this finger, this opposable thumb. You cannot hold any object. You cannot ever grip an object. If you try to hold something using the four fingers, it will fall off. But because of this opposable thumb, this opposable thumb, you are able to put something in your hand and hold it and grip it. Okay, so this opposable thumb here, this thumb, this smallest finger, the shortest finger there, it is enabling us or our hands to grip objects. So that's one of the similarities that we're having when we're comparing us to African apes. You can see that here, basically the opposable thumb, this opposable thumb, it is the one that is allowing this person to be able to hold the branch of the tree. If there was no opposable thumb, the person would just be trying to hold it, but still not holdable. Okay. Hey, Lapo. I know that you've been enjoying this wonderful video, and most likely you've been enjoying watching this handsome face in front of you. But sorry, ladies, I'm taken. I just here to tell you that Educate is on the road to 100,000 subscribers by the end of 2025. So please click the subscribe button and click the notification bell so that you get notifications whenever I post new videos. I want you guys to pass. Okay. So if you make my dream true, I reach 100K subscribers, I will make your dreams come true. I will even get you to varsity. I will get you with seven distinctions. Yes. We also look at the upright posture. Basically, humans and African apes, all of them can stand upright. Okay. If we take a chicken, you compare to us as humans and African apes, chicken cannot stand upright. In a sense, they can only. Okay. Chicken. They're just messed up. All right. But basically, they cannot stand upright. So we've got an upright posture. So this allows us to stand erect. When I'm saying that you are standing erect, you are standing up, like up, you are standing up, upright, erect. Right. And this is very advantageous because it gives a better exposure of genitals to attract the opposite sex. If ever you hear good English here, you can read this for yourself. I'm not explaining anything. And then the other one here, we have got sexually, okay, sexual dimorphism. So as humans and African apes, we share these other characteristics that we're having. We are sexually dimorphic. Okay. It just simply means that we've got two types of genders. We've got two types of sexes. Yeah. Something like that. So basically, when we're sexually dimorphic, it simply means that we've got only two types. It's either we've got a male or a female. Nothing in between. Nothing out. So it's just, it's just something that is not continuous. It is something that is discontinuous. It's a discontinuous variation type of a situation. All right. So as humans and African apes, both of us are sexually dimorphic. Simply means that we exist in only two sexes. We exist in only two genders. It's either male or female. There's no intermediates. There's no intermediate phenotype when it comes to our, our orientation. Okay. Our, okay. Let's just say our, our sex. Okay. So this, these are the similarities that are the most essential when we are comparing African apes and humans. But to remember that when the question comes, they are not going to say the similarities between humans and African apes. They can say similarities between humans and chimpanzees or humans and gorillas, humans and bonobos or humans and orangutans, all of it, all of those African apes. So the answers will still say the same thing. Thank you so much. Wonderful. Great. Thanks for watching this video. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel. Tell your friends to also stay tuned.