taxonomy

The 'Whos' and 'Whichs' of Chimpanzees

Copy editors, taxonomists, and Speed Racer tussle over a species’ humanity.

Ive been thinking about chimps lately. I called them a who and not a which in a recent piece I produced for the American Museum of Natural History. This earned me a virtual slap by my copy editor. As in:

Chimpanzees, who WHICH are not bipedal…

I was just giving a nod to a fellow hominid—the taxonomic group that includes chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and humans. Pan troglodytes are 99.8% genetically similar to us, making them our closest living relative.

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