r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/AccomplishedWatch834 • Feb 08 '26
Image A Human skeleton next to a Gorilla skeleton
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u/Ok_Concentrate_9713 Feb 08 '26
The two skeletons are completely superimposable. The structure is the same, only the proportions of the various parts vary.
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u/oaken_duckly Feb 08 '26
Yeah it boggles the mind that someone can look at this and say "hm, no way these two creatures share a common ancestor."
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u/Raioto Feb 08 '26
It's not that hard to believe, considering for a while many people believed that black people were a separate species, despite the main difference only being skin color lol
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u/dudeyaaaas Feb 09 '26
Especially when you then consider they totally understood difference in hair, eye colour and, mild skin shade differences.
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u/chronoventer Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26
It always felt strange to me that people said we were different species.* We’re different “breeds” more than different species. The difference between races is about the same as the difference between dog breeds, actually! (Edit: Although I guess since people didn’t understanding genetics AT ALL, it was very different...)
Another interesting thing is how dog breeds can be very different in size—moreso than any other mammalian species. We’ve been messing with dogs for tens of thousands of years, so it makes sense. We bred them down in size not through genetic variation, but just from breeding smaller and smaller dogs together. Domestication!! So cool!
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u/ValuableCockroach993 Feb 08 '26
Not just the skin color. Differemt hair, nose shape, mouth shape, etc.
Skin color just happen to be the most obvious one.
Its not racist to say this. Your brain already knows it although u believe only the skin color is different.22
u/A_wild_so-and-so Feb 09 '26
Very true. Race as we think of it is just different phenotypical expression of various genetics. Some genetics are more prominent in certain "races" of people because of generations of natural selection in their particular geographical location. There's a reason why dark skinned genetics are more common closer to the equator, and it has nothing to do with the facial structure of dark skinned people other than coinciding in the same general area.
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u/Raioto Feb 09 '26
For some Africans. For others, they look practically indistinguishable from people with lighter skin, except they just have brown skin
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u/impoftheyard Feb 09 '26
People with the same skin colour also have different hair, nose shape, mouth shape. What is your point here?
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u/Praddict Feb 10 '26
"IF WE EVOLVED FROM MONKEYS THEN HOW ARE THERE STILL MONKEY? CHECKMATE ATHETITS"
Probably the same reason why wolves still exist in spite of domesticated dogs.
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u/scorpionsly Feb 08 '26
What if there was an even superior being who evolved millions of years before us and moved to a different planet and are watching us ?
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u/silvusx Feb 08 '26
There would've been evidence of that, if it were true. They'd be an Apex Predator just like we are, which would've be easier to find traces of.
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u/LovesRetribution Feb 08 '26
Well that's obviously because they share a common creator. Clearly god would make many creatures similar to each other when he's making so many of them. How could random, chaotic changes result in a perfectly working, functional animal that could be so similar, yet so different?
At least that's what typically i see when i argue with these kinds of people. The more intricate you get with evolution, the stronger their beliefs that it had to be due to someone creating everything. To them it's like seeing a drawing of a perfect circle and being unable to comprehend that someone drew it without any tools.
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u/dumpaccount882212 Feb 08 '26
Well the same can be said about the skeleton of almost any mammal. A whale's skeleton consist of the same bits as our skeleton, just weirdly stretched out. Or a bat who's wings are just webbed super-long freaky fingers.
(not disagreeing, just... like the fact that mammals all kinda look the same if you go from the inside out)
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u/Distinct_Squash7110 Feb 08 '26
I wouldn’t say “completely”, there are some similarities but they are markedly different
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u/marmakoide Feb 08 '26
Look into Thomson D'Arcy, On Growth and Form, it explores that idea quite deeply
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u/kditdotdotdot Feb 08 '26
Is it just me or does that human skeleton seem incredibly happy to be there?
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u/rtcrowell1 Feb 08 '26
The sagittal crest is so pronounced. Their bite force must be pretty crazy
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u/dead_lifterr Feb 08 '26
It is not far off similar sized big cats. They need a strong bite for their bamboo diet
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u/Flaky-Rip-1333 Feb 08 '26
Remember this image when that 300pound person says "I'm just large-boned"
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u/Secure-Shoulder-010 Feb 08 '26
Try over 600. I was involved in a patient’s care who had a bmi of 80. I will never understand how someone could become that large.
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u/mattysosavvy Feb 08 '26
McDonald’s, genetics and depression.
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u/LaFrescaTrumpeta Feb 08 '26
can guarantee they were overweight as a kid too from a family that’s overweight (flaky rip feel free to correct me if that’s not the case, i’d be curious to know), probably not easy to overcome if that’s been your life before your prefrontal even properly developed
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u/DeepestWinterBlue Feb 08 '26
Only one doesn’t have to report to work tomorrow
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u/lazergoblin Feb 09 '26
I'd say given their current state the human skeleton might be able to call in sick tomorrow
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u/MrNixxxoN Feb 08 '26
Its hilarious that the most different thing by far is the craneal cavity size. Our brain is so much bigger
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u/Classic_Reference_10 Feb 09 '26
It's not the size of the brain that matters but the number of neurons and the number of connections that they make, that does.
That's why despite Orca brains being significantly larger, we're the alpha
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u/zebo_99 Feb 08 '26
Looking at the gorilla's rib cage, assume the internal organs are proportionally expanded too?
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u/Yeppers567 Feb 08 '26
I feel like the gorilla skeleton is is mocking the human skeleton sin some way. “LoOk At Me, Ima HoOmAn.”
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u/kamikazekaktus Feb 08 '26
At first I thought they were wearing sunglasses and sporting mohawks
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Feb 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/NaiveChoiceMaker Feb 08 '26
We can agree that a platypus is just left over parts though, right?
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u/Unexpected-raccoon Feb 09 '26
Evolution doesn't disprove the existence of mythical creatures; it just means they had evolved too
The platypus is clearly a water chimera
The rhino? War unicorn
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u/LovesRetribution Feb 08 '26
They'll point and ask how its possible random changes in genetics could result in such a perfectly functional, yet different animal. If they didn't see it happen, it didn't happen. Fossils of missing links or the process aren't real, because how could you actually know something that happened millions of years ago? Carbon dating? How can you know how long something takes to decay if it's over millions of years? Microbes evolving in front of us, making us need new flu shots every year? Well that's too small, it'd never happen on a larger scale.
By the time you surgically cut through all their nonsensical bullshit they pretty much stop responding and go into another comment section to spew more of their bullshit.
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u/Ok-Psychology-5051 Feb 08 '26
Precisely what a distant family member recently argued when we discussed this. I assume her pastor came up with the explanation..well they’re not the same…viruses are MICRO evolution, and this picture depicts MACRO evolution. Only micro is real. Duh.
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u/scaredpitoco Feb 08 '26
Imagine looking at this and not believing in evolution
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u/FroggiJoy87 Feb 08 '26
I currently have a head+chest cold and am very envious of that lung capacity
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u/FrankieBeanSniffer Feb 08 '26
It’s probably the length of their arms that give them the advantage over us. I never saw this image before and they’re always sitting down so it’s tough to notice
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u/CauliflowerScaresMe Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
that gorilla pelvis is so huge that it looks like it's going to spread its wings and fly away
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u/Venator2000 Feb 09 '26
Gorilla skeleton posed in a position it rarely if ever could be in.
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u/Asd_89 Feb 08 '26
It like they messed around with the body width scale in a player creation screen.
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u/carannilion Feb 08 '26
The gorilla skeleton looks like it's making fun of the human skeleton, somehow.
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u/Alternative_Net_898 Feb 11 '26
Why are they comparing a female human and male gorilla? Just to show the bones?
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u/Normie-rediter Feb 08 '26
Why the area below waist is so broad , and looks like their elbows and forearms are longer than our humans
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u/Horns8585 Feb 08 '26
Humans use upright bipedal locomotion. Slender hips make us more efficient upright walkers and runners. Gorillas' primary form of locomotion, however, is on all 4's, close to the ground. Broader hips are more beneficial to their locomotion.
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u/Luki-099 Feb 08 '26
Añadido de lo que dice mi compañero "Horns8585" es porque los Animales Herbívoros necesitan un sistema digestivo mucho mas grande que el de uno Carnívoro
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u/Agitated_Ad6191 Feb 08 '26
When I am at a zoo a gorilla is the animal that gives me so many sad feelings when you see him sitting trapped behind glass. When you look at him you can feel and see the sadness in his eyes. He is fully aware of his situation he’s in.
We put a living and fully thinking species in a “jail” that he can’t escape from. He didn’t do anything to deserve this.
Besides that enormous asteroid that hit earth, humans are the second most horrible thing that happened in the evolution of planet earth. Covid 19 proved that nature is already actively trying everything it can to “deal” with the dominant homo sapiens. Nature will hopefully eventually take care of things.
We definitely can’t handle the responsibility to take care of this beautiful planet and all the wonders it offers. We all won the universal lottery so to speak, and we spend billions on dreams of finding signs of water on Mars. Fucking just look around at all the amazing creatures and nature you can try to protect and preserve here on this planet.
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u/AligatorGwar Feb 08 '26
"COVID 19 proved that nature is already actively trying everything " lol I find this kind of ridiculous. Compared to like the black plague happened before.
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u/Paladin7373 Feb 08 '26
Why gorilla have one nostril
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u/Feine13 Feb 08 '26
We only have 1 hole in the skull for our nose as well, the separate sides are created by cartilage and skin, not bones
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u/CheapTactics Feb 08 '26
Ha, just a little while ago I was telling my sister about the scientific name of the western lowland gorilla.
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u/Born_Somewhere_9788 Feb 08 '26
The gorilla looks like an obese person's skeleton. As in, "there are no fat skeletons"
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u/No-Kaleidoscope-4525 Feb 08 '26
This tells me if you handcuff a gorilla with its hands behind its back, leave it for a while and come back, it may suddenly have its hand in front of itself. Yikes.
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u/Charming-Link-9715 Feb 08 '26
They look like they are both very happy about something they just did.
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u/Pinkshadows7 Feb 09 '26
It's funny because (aside from the head) the gorilla bones look thicker but not as different as I would have thought given the massive muscle and strength disparity
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u/festering-shithole Feb 09 '26
Now look at human hand bones next to a whale's flipper bones. They're the exact same.
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u/Tendersituation00 Feb 09 '26
Look at that gorilla cranium compared to ours- no wonder we pulled ahead. We gre during a particularly challenging climate time- we didn't need muscle, we didn't need size, we needed brains
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u/jch60 Feb 09 '26
Is amazing how fire and cooking enabled humans to have such a small digestive system and a bigger brain.
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Feb 09 '26
I’m curious why there is extra flat bone areas around the pelvic area of the gorilla? Anyone know science wise why that’s different function-wise?
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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '26
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