Figure 20.4 Humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans are members of a clade called the great apes, which shared a common ancestor about 18 million years ago. Gibbons and siamangs comprise a clade called the lesser apes. Tree-branch lengths indicate elapsed time.
-Assuming chimps and gorillas are humans' closest relatives, removing humans from the great ape clade and placing them in a different clade has the effect of making the phylogenetic tree of the great apes

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Placing humans in a different clade than the other great apes would create a paraphyletic grouping, as this clade would not include all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of the great apes.

Figure 204 Humans, Chimpanzees, Gorillas, and Orangutans Are Members of a a Clade