What is your closest primate?

Answer 1

The bonobo is the closest living relative to humans. Chimpanzees are in a very close 2nd place.

Often the chimpanzee is given as an answer, due to several reasons:

1. Most people don't know what a bonobo is, but they are familiar with chimps.

2. Chimps were the closest living relative we knew, before we knew much about bonobos.

3. Bonobos used to be considered a type of chimpanzee (previously called a pygmy chimp). However, we learned more about them, and we now consider them their own distinct species.

Please also note that both bonobos and chimpanzees are apes, not monkeys.