The Chimpanzee

The human being has been a product of 60 million years of evolution from those small mammalian creatures that survived the asteroid strike 66 million years ago. We are now within the most recent 20 million years and quite early in this period, it is thought that the great apes diversified the lesser apes. It is believed that the arangatang speciated first as a distinct animal, followed by the gorilla and finally by the chimpanzee. The question of who these historic individuals are and when they were alive has challenged the greatest scientific minds for many decades.