We share 98% of our DNA with orangutans and lest you think it is our opposable thumb that separates us from apes, think again by taking a look at this thrilling photo of an orangutan hand (left) connecting with a human hand (right) that was published as the photo of the month in Editor & Publisher.

Orangutan and Human Hands

Oh, what a different that 2% makes.

God and Man

46 Comments

  1. If you had run the picture without an explanation, I would have thought it was two humans reaching out to each other.

  2. If you had run the picture without an explanation, I would have thought it was two humans reaching out to each other.

  3. If you had run the picture without an explanation, I would have thought it was two humans reaching out to each other.

  4. Chris!
    Yeah, I know! I thought the same thing. I thought it was an old woman’s hand at first or a mummified hand from antiquity that had been unearthed. To find out it was a living hand from an orangutan shocked me! It is the opposable thumb that still chills me.

  5. Chris!
    Yeah, I know! I thought the same thing. I thought it was an old woman’s hand at first or a mummified hand from antiquity that had been unearthed. To find out it was a living hand from an orangutan shocked me! It is the opposable thumb that still chills me.

  6. Chris!
    Yeah, I know! I thought the same thing. I thought it was an old woman’s hand at first or a mummified hand from antiquity that had been unearthed. To find out it was a living hand from an orangutan shocked me! It is the opposable thumb that still chills me.

  7. My uninformed opinion, Dave, is that the rush of animal protein led to severe changes in behavior and DNA that allowed the expansion of the mind and desire for upward progress that brought us into Homes Sapiensism.
    There comes a time, however, where you cannot grow beyond a certain point and to continue to engorge yourself with animal proteins and fats becomes an ironic and natural form of population correction where people with high cholesterol and other ailments from animal proteins pay the price by living shorter lives and a less robust existence.

  8. I think the reason the diet was able to change was a modification of teeth. Being able to grab and tear flesh was a requirement to move up the food chain buffet.
    Here’s an interesting comparison chart between us and them:
    http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/natural.html
    Here’s what my Guruji, Dr. McDougall, has to say about meat eating and humans:
    http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougall/030700pumeatinthehumandiet.htm
    I couldn’t find anything interesting about primates existing on a mainly flesh-eating diet.

  9. I too thought that the other hand belonged to.. perhaps an elderly person or perhaps makeup on the hand of a zombie (which would be human)… Neat!

  10. I like this entry. But this comment is to track down strange behavior here.
    Although I commented on a different thread in the blog, I just received e-mail notification of updates in this thread. Is this a bug in K2 or WordPress?
    I’ll comment on this thread, and see if I start to get updates of comments on another thread too, to better detect what’s going on.
    I had assumed that “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” only meant to the one thread, not every entry in the blog.

  11. And there are some that still argue about the validity of evolution,,,,incredible

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