• Question: How many chromosomes does a male gorilla, like Albert (from the lectures), have?

    Asked by to Hannah on 8 Jan 2019. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Hannah Cornish

      Hannah Cornish answered on 8 Jan 2019:

      Hi Ollie,

      Gorillas have 24 pairs of chromosomes, one more pair than humans have. Scientist think this is because two pairs of human chromosomes have become stuck together during our evolution. Like humans most male gorillas have XY sex chromosomes, and most females have XX sex chromosomes.

      Interestingly, even though humans are more closely related to chimps than any other animal, humans and gorillas have a very similar Y chromosome.

      Hannah

Comments