How closely related are humans to apes?

Humans are very closely related to apes. In fact, we are apes!

Here's a breakdown:

* Humans belong to the family Hominidae, which includes all apes. This family includes gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and humans.

* Our closest living relatives are chimpanzees and bonobos. We share about 98.7% of our DNA with them.

* We share a common ancestor with chimpanzees and bonobos that lived around 6-8 million years ago. This ancestor was likely more ape-like than human-like.

So, while we may look different from our ape relatives, we are more similar to them genetically than we are to any other animal on Earth.