The African apes are more closely related to man than to the orangutan and gibbon, according to research described Aug 27 at the International Congress of Zoology in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Morris Goodman, microbiologist at Wayne State University in Detroit, said his blood-protein studies indicate that the relationship between chimpanzees and gorillas are no closer than the relationship between either of these apes and man.
Goodman said that instead of classifying man as the sole member of Hominidae, taxologists should group man with the chimpanzee and gorilla, the three being closer relatives in terms of blood proteins than any other animals. The orangutan and gibbon, although close to the Hominidae, do not belong within it, the researcher said. The orangutan should remain classified in the Pongidae group, and the gibbon in the Hylopatidae group, he told the symposium at which he reviewed his research.
"Advances in protein chemistry and in