Human hands may be more primitive than chimp's

Human hands may be more primitive than chimp's

Date: July 14, 2015

Source: Stony Brook University

ARE OUR HANDS LESS EVOLVED THAN CHIMPS´ ONES??

Nature has recently published an eye catching paper titled "The evolution of human and ape hand proportions”. The study, done by Stony Brook University's Sergio Almecija, Jeroen Smaers and William Jungers, discovers that human hands may be more primitive than chimp's.

A human hand long thumb is one of the most distinctive traits of humankind compared to apes and is often thought to be one of the reasons for the success of our specie. Its proportions indicate that the structure of modern human hand is largely primitive instead of being a consequence of evolutionary changes from apes´ ones. Moreover, it has a huge resemblance to the proportions of chimpanzees and humans´ common ancestor.

Consequently, it can be affirmed that this convergence in the evolution of finger elongation results on an increase in size between chimpanzees and orangutans comparing with the little change that humans, human ancestors and gorillas show.

Journal Reference:

Sergio Almécija, Jeroen B. Smaers & William L. Jungers. The evolution of human and ape hand proportions. Nature, 2015 (in press) DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8717