True apes vary in size from the 3-ft (90-cm), 15-lb (6.8-kg) gibbon to the 6-ft (1.8-m), 450-lb (200-kg) gorilla. All apes are forest dwellers and most spend at least some of the time in trees. Except for adult gorillas, they can run along branches on all fours; they are also able to move about by brachiation, or arm-over-arm swinging. Gibbons (including siamangs) are particularly adept at this type of locomotion; the heavier orangutan prefers to grasp a neighboring tree and pull itself across to it. Gorillas and chimpanzees are the most terrestrial of the apes, normally traveling on all fours by leaning on the knuckles of their forelimbs with the fingers of their hands curled under (knuckle-walking); orangutans ball their fingers into fists during the short periods they walk. Most apes are able to walk on two feet for short distances.
The skeleton of an ape is quite similar to that of a human in the structure of the chest and shoulders. Apes have broad, flat chests and arms capable of reaching up and backward from the shoulder; this construction is associated with brachiation. The pelvis, on the other hand, is more like that of a monkey, designed for walking on all fours, hence the use of knuckle-walking for ground locomotion. The arms of an ape are longer than the legs. The hands are similar to human hands, but with fingers and thumb of more equal length; the feet are handlike, grasping structures. Apes have neither tails nor the cheek pouches found in Old World monkeys; gibbons are the only apes that have the buttock callosities found in Old World monkeys. Like other anthropoid primates, the eyes are highly developed, with stereoscopic color vision. The brains of great apes are different from old world monkeys and some structures are reminiscent of the uniquely elaborate features of the human cortex, rendering these primates capable of fairly advanced reasoning. Chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas have been observed using objects as tools in the wild.
Estimates of the amount of identical genetic material (DNA) in chimpanzees and humans range from 94.6% to 99.4%. This marked similarity, and additional evidence, have led primatologists to suggest that the taxonomy of the apes should include three groups: hylobatidae (gibbons and siamangs); pongidae (orangutangs); and hominidae (gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans). Apes are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Primates.
See S. Montgomery, Walking with the Great Apes (1991).
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Licensed from Columbia University Press
Any of the tailless primates known as the lesser apes (gibbons and siamangs; family Hylobatidae) or the great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas; family Hominidae). Apes are found in the tropical forests of western and central Africa and South Asia. They are distinguished from monkeys by having no tail, having an appendix, and having a more complex brain. Apes typically move about by swinging or knuckle-walking, though they are capable of standing erect and occasionally walk on two feet. Highly intelligent animals, apes are very closely related to humans, who are also categorized by zoologists as members of Hominidae. As a result of habitat destruction and hunting, all the apes are now regarded as endangered.
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Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvana).
Learn more about Barbary macaque with a free trial on Britannica.com.
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