How Many Chromosomes Are Found in Human Body Cells? By Mike Crystal; Updated April 24, 2017 Chromosomes are long threads of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, found in the nuclei of animal and plant cells. DNA in turn is the genetic information for making new copies of an organism or part of one. Different organisms have different numbers of chromosomes; humans have 23 pairs. Chromosomes and Inheritance You get one copy of each paired chromosome from each parent.