Comparing people and animals

“Humans once stood on a pedestal: made by God in his image, earthly lords of all creation, categorically distinct from mere animals. That was the belief, anyway. Jane Goodall played a large role on eroding that self-flattering conviction, with her extraordinary study of wild chimpanzees at what is now Gombe National Park in Tanzania. By discovering unexpected behavioral similarities between chimps and humans, she continued the revolution begun by Copernicus and Galileo and advanced in a great leap by Charles Darwin: taking earth out of the center of the universe and humans down from our holy isolation. Goodall helped us see, long before genome comparisons confirmed it, that the gap between chimps and people is smaller than anyone thought. Gorillas aren’t the closest living relatives of chimpanzees. We are” (Quammen, 2025).

That’s how National Geographic began their obituary of Jane Goodall. But they are wrong!

“The human and chimpanzee genomes are only about 85% identical”, not 99% as estimated in the 1970s (Carter, 2025). Not only are the human and chimp genomes not almost identical, they are too far apart to make a common evolutionary ancestor even remotely plausible.

The National Geographic also included a statement from an article in 2003 that is now known to be false, “Perhaps the most important thing we’ve learned at Gombe is how similar we are to these creatures, with whom we share 95-98% of our DNA”. In fact, the overall similarity is about 85%, which represents 300-400 million single DNA letter differences. The evolutionary theory claims that humans evolved from a hypothetical chimp-like ancestor about 6 million years ago. This is said to have occurred through a long series of beneficial mutations. In light of the actual genomic differences between humans and chimps, this is not genetically feasible. But in 2025 they failed to correct the figure to 85%!

The similarity of DNA (85%) is not surprising, given the similarity in form and function between people and chimpanzees. But that similarity is not evidence for common ancestry any more than it is evidence for having the same Designer.

Motivation for this research

This research into chimpanzee behavior (see Appendix A) was supported by her mentor Louis Leakey a paleoanthropologist because he thought it might illuminate human ancestry. They were hoping to throw new light on the growth and spread of early human cultures. They were looking for evidence to support their worldview based on biological evolution.

And when they found this evidence, they exclaimed:
– Goodall “showed the world that there is not a sharp line dividing us from them; we are a part of and not separated from the rest of the animal kingdom.”
– “Her findings sparked worldwide interest and upended the conventional wisdom on the exceptionalism of humans.”
– “It would infuriate the creationists, but her work suggested that perhaps it was not that apes mirrored human behavior, but that human behavior mirrored that of apes.”

They got excited about tools like a stick of wood and a blade of grass! That’s desperate and way below the tool making and tool using ability of humanity.

What does the Bible say?

Between 1974 and 1978 Goodall observed a chimpanzee war in which many chimps killed each other. She also observed infanticide. And predators often kill prey in the animal world.

On the 14^th December 2025 two gunmen killed 14 people in a terrorist attack at Bondi beach in New South Wales, Australia.

Question: What’s the difference between these behaviors?

According to the Bible, animals and people (Adam and Eve) were both created on the sixth day of creation. So, they are similar as finite creatures who were imagined and created by an infinite God. But the Bible also mentions a difference – people were created “in the image of God” (Gen. 1:26-27; 9:6). They are “made in God’s likeness” and are “the offspring of God” (Acts 17:29; Jas. 3:9). This means that:
– Humanity is unique among all God’s creations, having both a material body and an immaterial soul/spirit.
– People are a reflection of God and not God of mankind (Acts 17:29).
– All people are worthy of honor and respect, they are neither to be murdered (Gen. 9:6) or cursed (Jas. 3:9).
– People can reason and choose (mental likeness), are conscious of right and wrong (moral likeness), and they thrive in relationships (social likeness).
– People can have a personal relationship with God.

In this way, people are different to animals like chimpanzees and the gap between chimps and people is not smaller than anyone thought! There is a fundamental difference between people and animals, which was not acknowledged by Leakey, Goodall, Quammen and the staff of National Geographic (Appendix B).

Answer: People generally accept animals killing other animals, but murder is not acceptable. Animals killing others is an instinctive/natural behavior, while human murder is morally wrong because it disrespects God’s creation of mankind.

Lessons for us

When you read National Geographic magazine and other publications be aware that they often have an evolutionary bias.

Because we have all done things that are morally wrong, we are separated from God. Only by trusting in Christ’s sacrificial death for us, can we have a personal relationship with God. Then the image of God within us can be restored.

If murder is not acceptable, then why are abortion and euthanasia legalized in Australia although unborn children and the elderly are also made in the image of God? This is a consequence of living in a society that no longer follows Biblical values.

Appendix A: The work of Jane Goodall

Beginning in the 1960s Jane Goodall studied the behavior of wild chimpanzees. She discovered that chimps make and use tools (for example for termite fishing), they can eat meat and that individual chimpanzees have unique personalities.

Goodall documented the primates making and using tools—blades of grass and twigs lowered into mounds to fish for termites. Previously, only humans were thought to have the capacity to do that. She was the first to observe chimpanzees using sticks as tools, a behavior previously believed to be unique to humans. At that time anthropologists defined homo sapiens as toolmakers.

Later in life she devoted her life to the conservation of wildlife animal populations.

Appendix B: Some differences between chimpanzees and people

Growing up: Compared to chimpanzees, people have a prolonged childhood and are dependent for much longer.

Physical strength: Chimps are far stronger and develop muscles quicker than people do; they are also mobile earlier.

Cognitive abilities: Human intelligence and creativity far exceeds that of animals. This is demonstrated in science, sports, arts, and more.

Speech: Only people have the right kind of brain structure and organization to allow for complex speech. Apes cannot talk.

Morality: Animals are not moral agents. Only people are guilty before God because of our sins, and in need of a Savior.

Value: Because people are made in God’s image, we have a special value that animals do not have. Laws protecting human rights should not be extended to animals (Gen. 9:6).

References

Carter R, 2025, Humans and chimpanzees are NOT 99% identical. The final nail in the coffin of human evolution.
Quammen D, 2025, Jane Goodall 1934-2025, National Geographic, 248, 06, 114-133.
Tuinstra L, 2024, Boy and chimpanzee ‘sibling’ experiment.

Written, January 2026

Also see: Genetics doesn’t support the idea of biological evolution