2016/10/27 by Marc de Manuel, Martin Kuhlwilm, Peter Frandsen +33 · 2 citations
Psychology · Mathematics · Environmental Science · #Primate Behavior and Ecology #Morphological variations and asymmetry #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
paper · doi:10.1126/science.aag2602
openalex publication_date 2016/10/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, have a complex demographic history. We analyzed the high-coverage whole genomes of 75 wild-born chimpanzees and bonobos from 10 countries in Africa. We found that chimpanzee population substructure makes genetic information a good predictor of geographic origin at country and regional scales. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that gene flow occurred from bonobos into the ancestors of central and eastern chimpanzees between 200,000 and 550,000 years ago, probably with subsequent spread into Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees. Together with another, possibly more recent contact (after 200,000 years ago), bonobos contributed less than 1% to the central chimpanzee genomes. Admixture thus appears to have been widespread during hominid evolution.