What is the difference between a monkey and a chimpanzee? What is the difference between a chimpanzee and a monkey? One of the biggest differences is that most monkey species have tails, whereas chimpanzees and other apes do not. Chimpanzees and other apes are much more similar to human beings in many respects. What is happening at Gombe? Who is the newest chimp baby? To find out more about what is happening at Gombe, please visit the Gombe Chimpanzee Blog. News: Chimp-human differences. ITHACA, N.Y. -- Nearly 99 percent alike in genetic makeup, chimpanzees and humans might be even more similar were it not for what researchers call "lifestyle" changes in the 6 million years that separate us from a common ancestor.
Specifically, two key differences are how humans and chimps perceive smells and what we eat. A massive gene-comparison project involving two Cornell University scientists, and reported in the latest issue of the journal Science (Dec. 12, 2003), found these and many other differences in a search for evidence of accelerated evolution and positive selection in the genetic history of humans and chimps. CHCI.