ABSTRACT
This chapter examines human relationship to other organisms from a biological perspective. Human belong to the animal kingdom and specifically to the subphylum of vertebrates, defined by the presence of a segmented spinal column. Hominoids share a number of traits. Hominoids also share aspects of shoulder anatomy, allowing them to raise their arms above their heads easily. Studies of primate anatomy and behavior portray human relationship to the great apes. The use of genetic data to assess relationships between different primate species began in 1904 when George Nutall suggested that analysis of blood chemistry could potentially tell us something about our relationship to other primates. The immunological research of Goodman and others in the 1960s led to the development of a new field—molecular anthropology—which examines the evolutionary relationships of different primate species based on comparative biochemistry at the molecular level. Humans and African apes were more closely related to each other than either was related to the orangutan.
