Final answer:
The koala(c) is the animal with fingerprints nearly identical to humans, highlighting an intriguing similarity despite their distant evolutionary relationship. Moreover, chimpanzees are closer to humans than rhesus monkeys in the evolutionary tree.
Step-by-step explanation:
The animal with fingerprints that are nearly identical to humans is the koala (c). Koalas have fingerprints that are so similar to human fingerprints that they can be quite difficult to distinguish, even under a microscope. This similarity is particularly fascinating because there is a significant evolutionary distance between primates and marsupials, which includes koalas.
Regarding the evolutionary relationships, humans share a high percentage of their DNA with great apes. For instance, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans have more than 97% of their DNA sequence in common, reflecting many similarities in anatomy and behavior, as well as indicating a shared evolutionary ancestor. When reviewing primate relationships, it has been established that chimpanzees are more closely related to humans than rhesus monkeys are (d).