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| The evolution of man. |
In "Species," the second chapter of Genome, Matt Ridley discusses how the species of humans came about. Chromosome 2 is actually the second biggest human chromosome and is formed by two medium-sized ape chromosomes fusing together. Ridley mentions that it is surprising that humans don't have twenty0four pairs of chromosomes because chimpanzees and other monkeys have twenty-four pairs and according to the theory of evolution, we are closely related to them. He goes on to say that although "the human species has shown a remarkable capacity for colonising different habitats" (25), "the remarkable truth is that we come from a long line of failures." Humans were once apes that almost became extinct fifteen million years ago when we were in competition with better-adapted monkeys. He mentions that we are descended from synapsid tetrapods, limbed fishes, and chordates, then goes on to describe our journey to existence through natural selection and evolution. Ridley ends with concluding that it is crazy that small differences in the genes of different species result in large differences in behavior and that "genes are recipes for both anatomy and behaviour" (37).
Source:
Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley
picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1070671/Evolution-stops-Future-Man-look-says-scientist.html
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