With chimps, that is. I wonder if, when they do the same kind of research on humans, this will be true for us. On the other hand, you just have to go to a football game or bar to make that idea seem unlikely.

Having said that, apparently humans generally are evolving faster nowadays than in the past. Guess the anti-evolution crowd has got it wrong.

A provocative and intriguing new study reveals that past thought on the Y chromosome, the chromosome that instructs mammals to develop into males, may be entirely flawed and that the chromosome, previously thought to evolving at a crawl, may in fact be evolving far faster than other chromosomes. Human females typically have two X chromosomes, while males have an X and a Y chromosome.

It was previously thought that autosomes (non-sex chromosomes) and the X sex chromosome featured greater diversity (faster evolution) than the Y sex chromosome, a smaller chromosome. According to the new study, led by Jennifer Hughes, a postdoctoral researcher in Whitehead Institute Director David Page’s lab. The research indicates that primate males may be evolving significantly faster than females.
[…]
One thing that may be driving faster evolution of the male sex chromosome is differing mating habits between species. Where as humans typically take a single partner during sexual intercourse, numerous chimpanzees often mate with a single female in a short time period. Males who produce more sperm, or whose sperm is better at impregnating females will have a better chance at beating the other males’ sperm and passing on his genes.

To give an idea of just how profound this effect is, the difference between the rest of the human and chimp chromosomes is only 2 percent. That means that the male sex chromosome is evolving nearly 15 times faster, or more, on average than the female genome.




  1. Cursor_ says:

    Wonderful.

    Nut evolving to what? They do not discuss it and you have to pay to see the research paper.

    Though I like the idea shown at the end of the article that women are evolving into shorter and heavier women.

    I guess that means supermodels will in 10k years resemble Danny Devito.

    Cursor_

  2. LibertyLover says:

    And to think all those pr0n flicks with the gang bangs are actually GOOD for society!

    I guess we all better start accepting gang bangs or else we might find chimps out evolving us.

  3. deowll says:

    Human and Chimp X chromosomes are surprisingly similar. The Y chromosomes are shocking different.

    Explanations as to why are just so stories. We don’t have a freaking clue why.

    Some chimps seem to try to pair off and some are very promiscuous.

    While humans seem to be more into pairing off the phrases gang bang, drunken orgy, whore, john, sc***ing around, party girl, and adultery are well known and very common human behaviors as is promiscuity in general. It isn’t that uncommon for a new mother not to know who the father was.

  4. monkees says:

    who’s bright idea was it to evolve without tails!?! maybe they can work on that along with the Y chromosome…

  5. chuck says:

    That explains the Darwin awards.
    As males run around trying to do stupid things, the one’s that don’t get killed are improving the species.

  6. MikeN says:

    And of course all the pro-science folks will say that the only impact of evolution on humans of different races is skin color. No other differences are possible. For that matter gender differences are limited as well.

  7. Thomas says:

    #5
    You mean the ones that die before they have a chance to breed.

  8. Rich says:

    Feminism is a manifestation of the human male’s continued evolution.

  9. qb says:

    Does this mean that males won’t be able to open jars in the future?

  10. lakelady says:

    hrm, guess they have to do something to catch up

  11. TJ says:

    Hey #6 if you’re anti-science, then you are anti logic and reason. Why should anyone listen to you?

    Funny how facts have a liberal bias to you guys.

  12. raster says:

    It actually makes perfect sense, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this a genetic trend in all “sexed” populations (that the “y” chromosome mutates more rapidly than other chromosomes).

    Think about it: if nature were going to ‘gamble’ with mutations (evolve), and nearly always fail, which sex costs the overall population the least risk to overall survivability?


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