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The firm belief by men that we are the most special creature in this world and that we’re on the top of the animal kingdom ( setting aside other superstitious and religious beliefs ), gave us the buoyancy to look down on other animals. What we don’t know is that we, humans, share a number of similarities with other animals as well, behavior, culture, characteristics and even on our genes.
First let us discuss one of the most complex comparison that we have with other animals, this can be explained through Genetics.
Genetics is the study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics.
Gathering concrete data comparing animal genes to human genes have been an intricate task for me. Others might raise their eyebrows or laugh at me the moment they read this article, but anyway it still feels good to let others know how we amazingly share genes with other animals and plants. On the contrary, I still believe the notion that we are several notch higher than other animals and I am in no way trying to make you feel like you are a rodent, a cockroach or a wasp. Just kidding.
On top of the list we have the chimpanzees, which can be considered as the animals which is closest to humans as they share 98% of our human genes.
Having chimps as number one on our list is something that doesn’t surprise me at all since the resemblance can easily be seen on our physical features no matter how others try to deny it because they find it rude to be compared to these animals. However, there are also other animals which, despite the fact that they look poles apart from humans, still share a huge proportion of human genes. Next to the chimps are mice which shares 92% of our genes. No wonder the term “Lab rats” were coined after they serve as the most common specimen to go under laboratory tests instead of a real human because of their evident similarities.
Cats and dogs with 90% and 82% human gene shares respectively while Cows are 80% genetically similar to humans.
Chickens have a 60% similarity with human genes as well.
Again, the animals that I have mentioned above share large percentage of gene similarities with humans mainly because of the verity that they are also mammals. Nonetheless, other non – mammals have their own human genes shares too. The only difference is that they only have it for a smaller but still respectable percentage.
One example is the fruit fly which shares roughly around 44% to 60% of human genes similarity.
Plants are also said to have their own share of human genes similarities as well. A certain study found out that a type of weed was guesstimated to have at least 18% of our genes. The baker’s bestfriend, yeast, also said to have possessed a share of human genes too!
On a lighter note, let us cite some reasons why are we considered to be closely similar to other animals aside from genetically derived studies:
Katydid have Ears which are closely similar to humans
Human ears operates in a very compound manner which is something that seems to be unmatched by other animals. But on a certain research, it has been found out that Katydid ears are almost similar with that of the humans’. Their eardrums to be exacts, functions exactly the same as ours. When it comes to the physical looks of their ears, it looks a lot simpler than ours but they have a better hearing range than human ears.
There are a lot of similarities that we can easily distinguish just by observing and appreciating other animals. They can throw words that are commonly spoken by humans, they show facial expressions, they sleep talk, they build homes for themselves, mind read and has the capacity to outwit us at some point in time. Just appreciate what nature have given to us at try to shy away from any superiority complex that we have on our minds in order to accept these facts.
References:
EmilyC, Genetic Similarities of Mice and Men, http://blog.23andme.com/23andme-and-you/genetics-101/genetic-similarities-of-mice-and-men/
Maciamo, Percentage of genetic similarity between humans and animals, http://www.eupedia.com/forum/threads/25335-Percentage-of-genetic-similarity-between-humans-and-animals
Stephanie Pappas, 7 Ways Animals are Like Humans, http://www.livescience.com/24807-ways-animals-humans-alike.html
