Bonobos and chimpanzees diverged from a common ancestor as recently as approximately 850,000 years ago.
Notes on verification
The 850,000-year figure matches a specific peer-reviewed estimate (Won & Hey 2005, ~0.86-0.89 Mya), but broader literature gives a wide range (0.8-2.1 million years), with many sources citing higher figures (1.5-2 Mya) as more commonly repeated. The claim is accurate but represents the low end of a contested range rather than a settled consensus figure.
Sources
- Comparative Cognitive Development (dash.harvard.edu)
- https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/22/2/297/963879 (academic.oup.com)
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5414932/ (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)