Letters from the April 22, 2006, issue of Science News
By Science News
Second cousins
With reference to “Chimps creep closer yet” (SN: 2/11/06, p. 94), some scientists say that bonobos are genetically closer to humans than to chimps. How did they compare in the referenced study?
Dick Medvick
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Bonobos are indeed as genetically close to humans as are chimps, but there wasn’t enough genomic data available for bonobos to include them in the study, says evolutionary biologist Soojin Yi of the Georgia Institute of Technology.—C. Gramling