Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!sun!amdcad!ames!sgi!rmr
From: rmr@chefchu.SGI.COM (Robert Reimann)
Newsgroups: sci.misc,sci.bio,soc.women
Subject: Re: Univerrsal Common Female Ancestor
Message-ID: <7034@sgi.SGI.COM>
Date: Mon, 19-Oct-87 14:11:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: sgi.7034
Posted: Mon Oct 19 14:11:48 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Oct-87 20:48:29 EDT
References: <894@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <1248@bsu-cs.UUCP> <548@bucket.UUCP> <10107@sci.UUCP>
Sender: daemon@sgi.SGI.COM
Organization: Silicon Graphics Inc, Mountain View, CA
Lines: 23
Keywords: Eve?
Xref: mnetor sci.misc:579 sci.bio:766 soc.women:7864

In article <10107@sci.UUCP>, daver@sci.UUCP (Dave Rickel) writes:
> 
> I remember
> that humans, gorillas, and chimpanzees all seem to be about equidistant from
> some common ancestor on the evolutionary tree--that gorillas are as closely
> related to man as they are to chimpanzees; ditto with chimps.
> 

This was a matter of contention until recent comparisions of human, chimp, and
gorilla DNA showed that gorillas were closer, as in the diagram below.  If I
remember correctly, the point where the gorilla/human ancestor split from
chimps is not very far from the point where gorilla and human lines split.


		      ------- chimps
		      | 
		-------  ---- gorillas
		      |  |
		      ----
			 |
			 ---- humans

					 Robert Reimann.