In comparing the genomes of humans and those of other higher primates, it is seen that humans have a large metacentric pair we call chromosome 2 among our 46 chromosomes, whereas the other primates of this group have 48 chromosomes and any pair like the human chromosome 2 pair is not present; instead, the primate groups each have two pairs of midsize acrocentric chromosomes. What is the most likely explanation?

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In comparing the genomes of humans and those of other higher primates, it is seen that humans have a large metacentric pair we call chromosome 2 among our 46 chromosomes, whereas the other primates of this group have 48 chromosomes and any pair like the human chromosome 2 pair is not present; instead, the primate groups each have two pairs of midsize acrocentric chromosomes. What is the most likely explanation?