Where Humans Fit

The tree of life, zoomed in on us

Life
Bacteria
Archaea
Eukaryota
Domain
Plants
Fungi
Animalia
Kingdom
Invertebrates
Chordata
Phylum
Fish
Reptiles
Birds
Mammalia
Class
Rodents
Carnivores
Primates
Order
Monkeys
Lemurs
Hominidae
Family — Great Apes
🦧
Orangutan
🦍
Gorilla
🐵
Chimp
🐵
Bonobo
🧑
Human
You Are Here
A great ape reading this

Humans aren't descended from apes — we are apes.

We're one of five living species in the family Hominidae: the great apes.

The highlighted path shows every fork where our ancestors went one way instead of another.

DNA Shared with Humans
Chimpanzees ~98.8%
Gorillas ~98.4%
Orangutans ~96.9%
Mice ~85%
Bananas ~60%
Every living thing on Earth shares the same genetic code. We're all related — just separated by time.