Evolutionarily speaking, why do humans have 46 chromosomes?

Question

In humans, each cell normally contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 46. Monkeys, chimpanzees, and Apes have 24 pairs (twenty-four pairs), for a total of 48. What caused humans to have 46?

Answer 1

Humans have 46 chromosomes because, at some point during evolution, two ancestral ape chromosomes fused together to form what we now call human chromosome 2. Chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans each have 48 chromosomes, while humans have 46. When scientists compared the chromosomes closely, they found strong evidence that one large human chromosome was created when two smaller ape chromosomes joined together. What’s important is that humans did not suddenly lose large amounts of DNA. Most of the genetic information is still there, it’s just packaged differently.