If Orangutan’s share 97% of their DNA with humans, how are we so radically different?

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What goes on in that 3% it DNA, and what similarities do we share in the 97%?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s [not really true](https://youtu.be/IbY122CSC5w) that we share certain percentages of DNA with various other organisms.

Also, most of our DNA codes for the basic mechanics of life that we all need, like enzymes and hormones and how to take apart glucose for energy. We have to have pretty much identical DNA for that stuff or we die.

Also, a lot of our body structure comes from [turning parts on and off](https://youtu.be/ydqReeTV_vk) instead of changing the DNA that codes for them. Remember thalidomide? Babies with perfectly good genes for arms and legs didn’t grow arms or legs because of non-genetic factors in their environment. There are a lot of ways to influence how a baby develops without changing its genes, though obviously those are also mostly uniform within a species because that commonality is what makes us a species and keeps us suitable for our environment.

So basically it doesn’t take changing a lot of genes to make a lot of change.

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