Gorillas have a very similar process to create offspring compared to human beings.Female gorillas are usually in the gestation process eight and a half months much like a human’s estimated nine months. They also give birth to one baby gorilla at a time, and it is very rare for them to have twins similar to humans. In terms of the pregnancy coming to fruition, a gorilla’s reproductive cycle consists of more or less thirty days depending on what subspecies it belongs to replicating a human female’s own reproductive cycle. Moreover, according to GorillasWorld.com, “Females become sexually mature at 10-12 years old, while males at 11-13 years. Female gorillas can reach sexual maturity years earlier, even at 7-8 years old, and can have their first ovulatory cycle even during their sixth year of life, but they do not start breeding until they are ten years old or later. One of the most surprising facts is that after their first ovulatory cycle, they are unable to procreate an infant for about two years.” This replicates a human’s typical reproductive maturity. 

Related to their offspring, gorillas keep family ties composed of three to thirty gorillas much like humans. Furthermore, Karisoke Recherche discovered that a family of gorillas can get as big as sixty-five. These large groups of apes are led by a mature male ape more commonly known as a silverback. He serves not only as the protector of the group but as main decision maker. Usually the mature alpha male is accompanied by are younger slightly weaker secondary silverback to help protect the group. Said group is composed of females, juveniles and baby’s, young males that ae also known as blackbacks. This copies society’s construct of a male dominated family unit, that although is not the only family composition humans have, is stereotypical and common within families. 

Lastly, gorillas share an impressive amount of genetic material with humans. In fact, Berg Gorilla, an organization dedicated to the preservation and study of gorillas, stated that “Certain genes that were analyzed differ by only 1.2% between humans and chimpanzees, by 1.6% between humans and gorillas and by 1.8% between gorillas and chimpanzees.’ Therefore, there is only a minimal amount of less than a two percent difference in the genetic material that composes both human and gorilla. This percentage represents nuclear DNA, which is the nucleus of a cell. This could explain the hands of a gorilla, their stance, and much of the physical similarities they share with humans. 

In short, gorillas are one of the animals that closely resembles a human being in a wide variety of aspects, their reproductive process, their family units, and in their genetics. The reproductive system of a gorilla closely resembles that of a human, including the creation offspring, their cycle and periods of maturity. Gorilla’s social constructs also mimic that of humans by its seemingly male dominated family nucleus. Moreover, the very basis of their DNA is similar to our own. Therefore, humans are almost identical to gorillas.

 

In the animal kingdom, chimps are considered one of the smartest animals out there. Starting with their social behaviors, chimps are very intelligent animals and like humans, they show a lot of different expressions and behaviors depending on what they feel. An example of this would be if a chimp gets agitated it becomes aggressive and starts to jump around and may break things in the habitat. A lot of chimps may express different types of behaviors like female chimps that take care of their young with a motherly type behavior while male chimps are more active and dominant. In the chimps’ habitat, there is also a hierarchy in which there is an alpha male that climbs their way to the top of the chimp hierarchy, and they do it so they can be the individual leader of the chimps(Cohen-Brown, 2018)

 

For human beings we are considered the most intelligent species. Our social behaviors, like the chimps’, are very expressive and it shows when we talk and work. Humans are a very emotional species that can go through any type of situation and show our expressions at the moment. Like chimps, we also have some different types of behaviors between genders. For example, women often assume the motherly role, while men tend to focus on work, however as time goes by we start seeing changes in those behaviors and now both sides do any of the activities like the male taking care of the kids and house while the female works or both of them work while the kids are being taken care of by someone else. In the social hierarchy of the human beings, in the workplace or just in society most of the humans answer to a higher power that is on the top of the hierarchy, for example in the workplace that can be the boss of the organization while in society in can be the governor where you live or the president of your country or the dictator of your island, etc.

 

Now, chimps and humans have a lot of similarities, but they also have a lot of differences. Chimps cannot infer the mental state of another chimp. For example, whether they are in love, happy, sad, or otherwise. However, chimps are very good at reading body language, but chimps cannot contemplate another chimp’s state of mind without their body language (Wolchover, 2011). Most humans can do that, but they also use the other individual body language to try and determine how they are feeling. Most chimps are obligated to use the body language as a way of speaking as they cannot have a conversation like humans can through a vocabulary exercise.

 

 

Chimps and humans share a plethora of similarities and contrasting features. Their behavior within social interactions or hierarchies can be considered very alike in the similarities and differences between animals and humans. Each of them have their ups and downs between what characterizes them and what they can and cannot do within their own species. Chimps and humans share minimal differences such as vocabulary and their diet. In conclusion, within the animal kingdom, chimps are the most similar to the human species, with minimal differences to be shared.