On Mar. 7, 2012, an international team led by researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute announced they had sequenced the gorilla genome (western lowland gorilla). Their work was funded by the Wellcome Trust, NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and others.

The project, using DNA from a female gorilla named Kamilah, revealed that gorillas share significant genetic similarities with humans, with 30% of their genome closer to humans or chimpanzees than the latter are to each other. The results were published in Nature. The comparison, along with fossil evidence, places the human and chimpanzee species divergence between 5.5 and 7 million years ago. Their common ancestors split from gorillas 8.5 to 12 million years ago.

As well as teaching us about human evolution, the study of the great apes connects us to a time when our existence was more tenuous, and in doing so, highlights the importance of protecting and conserving these remarkable species.