About 150,000 year ago , along the Congo River , a tryst with a long account took place . chimp and bonobos – two distinct groups ofgreat apesthat part almost all of their DNA with our own species – got together , induce their genetics to become somewhat entwined .
Writing in the journalScience , an external squad of geneticist explain that this cross - breeding first occurred sometime between 200,000 and 550,000 year ago . The cumulative effect of these two phases of friskiness mean that sure groups of modern Pan troglodytes derive 1 percentage of their familial fabric from bonobos .
This study was conducted as part of a conservation effort to good clarify thegenetic distributionof both ape . Both are endangered , but a truly accurate assessment of their numbers can not be conducted without knowing how their desoxyribonucleic acid is spread over the continent .
By analyzing the integral genomes of 75 chimpanzee and bonobos from 10 countries , the research squad could work out whereabouts they had migrated to and from over the course of their evolutionary account .
“ This is the enceinte analysis of chimpanzee genomes to particular date and picture that genetics can be used to locate quite precisely where in the wild a chimpanzee issue forth from , ” sketch co - author Dr Chris Tyler - Smith , an evolutionary geneticist from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute , said in astatement .
“ This can assist the going of lawlessly captured chimp back into the proper shoes in the wild and provide cardinal evidence for legal action against the captors . ”
aside from their cross - breeding , the team were startled to reveal that they had repeatedly crossed the tremendous Congo River , which was previously think to be a potent barrier to any such unions .
“ It ’s fair to assume that [ back then ] the river might have looked very different to how it does today , possibly allowing the populations to meet , ” leash generator Dr Tomàs Marquès - Bonet , a researcher from the Institute of Biological Evolution at Pompeu Fabra University , say IFLScience .
A bonobo - based argument . Sergey Uryadnikov / Shutterstock
Diverging from a usual ancestor around 1.5 million years ago , bonobos ( Pan paniscus ) and chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes ) are scattered across Africa to vary degrees . Despite some sociological difference of opinion – chimpanzee lock in limited warfare and are male dominated , whereas bonobos are female dominated and far more passive , for example – their genomes are99.6 percent identical .
chimpanzee , of which there are now four confirmed race , are distributed across westerly , eastern , and central Africa , north of the Congo River . The key and eastern chimp subspecies are located on either side of the bonobo heartland , which lie within the humid forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the south side of the Congo River .
It ’s been think that the split from the common ancestor occurred when two population split up , with one occupying territorial dominion to the northward and the others adhere to the south . divide by a sinewy river , the two groups evolve into mark unexampled mintage in a classic example of a mechanism known as “ allopatric speciation . ”
However , this research makes it cleared that , at least twice , Pan troglodytes and bonobos track itinerary via the Congo River to explore similar dominion , find out fresh resource , and manifestly have a fling or two .
Specifically , it appears that the central and eastern chimpanzees deal significantly more genetic material with bonobos than the other chimpanzee subspecies , intimate that these radical were more adventuresome in their cross - river roving than others .
The distribution of chimpanzee subspecies ( yellowed , green , regal , blue ) and bonobo ( red ) across Africa . The boundary between the bonobos and the naughty / purple chimps represents the Congo River . William Frederick Cody / Wikimedia Commons ; Public domain of a function
As a issue , their genome have been contaminated by each other to a small degree – something that mirror the mingling ofNeanderthals and humanslong ago . In fact , this is the first study to bring out that ancient factor flow events took place between the two living species most closely related to humans , something that may have been more rough-cut among our ancestors than antecedently recall .
