The natural world is heavily intertwined and related in ways that we have not yet fully grasped. However, understanding the relations helps us to understand and draw conclusions that can only benefit the human world. Non-human primates can allow a lot of insight into how humans today behave while also allowing us to see what is exclusive to humans and how we differ and what may have caused these differences to arise. Evolution will occur organically over a long period of time and how species develop can be seen through their ancestors. Human’s ancestors are non-human primates but have bifurcated from a common ancestor so we have many similarities like standing on two feet, living in groups, the care we invest in our young, and especially the flexibility of our ability to learn behavior. Chimpanzees are the primates that we are most closely related to and it never ceases to amaze and surprise me that humans share over 95% of DNA with chimpanzees. The fact that we share so much DNA but there are so many physical differences is mind blowing to me because it becomes so apparent the importance of certain genes like regulatory genes. Another thing I find very surprising is the capacity for primates to learn behavior. It shows how humans are so egocentric and thing they are the only ones with high enough intelligence to learn new things and learn from feedback, whether it be environmental or between individuals. I listened to a podcast called “Ologies” by Alllie Ward, and one episode was about primatology and the primatologist is also a zoo-keeper with a community of chimpanzees that they observed. She talks about primates being given a mirror and they will start to pick food out of their teeth or pull bugs out of their hair when they can see themselves in the mirror. Another aspect she talked about was how the same species of primate can speak the same language but they have different accents if they are from different areas of a country or continent. I find this very interesting because it is nearly identical to humans. People may speak the same language but they will have different accents based on where they are located in the world.

Humans like to believe they are the peak of evolution but we have only been alive for a fraction of the time that these primates have been, which means they are much more evolutionarily successful than we are. Yet, this could lead to advancements in ways we can enhance our chances of survival if we learn from a species that has been around a lot longer than we have. We can understand what led to humans desire to live in communities and the advantages of doing so because we can see how it has benefited but also inhibited the non-human primates being studied. Understanding and learning from mistakes of our ancestors is key to perpetuating the survival of humans and how we can most efficiently utilize our resources.