This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 142.227.150.131 (talk) at 17:21, 27 March 2008 (→History of hominoid taxonomy). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 17:21, 27 March 2008 by 142.227.150.131 (talk) (→History of hominoid taxonomy)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) This article is about the biological superfamily. For a discussion of the inclusion of humans as apes, see Cultural aspects of non-human apes below. For other uses, see Ape (disambiguation).
| Apes Temporal range: Late Oligocene - Recent | |
|---|---|
| |
| Lar Gibbon (Hylobates lar) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorrhini |
| Parvorder: | Catarrhini |
| Superfamily: | Hominoidea Gray, 1825 |
| Families | |
|
Hylobatidae | |
Apes are the members of the Hominoidea superfamily of primates, which includes humans. Under the current classification system there are two families of hominoids:
- the family Hylobatidae consists of 4 genera and 13 species of gibbons, including the Lar Gibbon and the Siamang, collectively known as the "lesser apes"
- the family Hominidae consisting of orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans, collectively known as the great apes.
A few other primates, such as the Barbary Ape, have the word "ape" in their common names (usually to indicate lack of a tail), but they are not regarded as true apes.
Except for gorillas and most humans, all true apes are agile climbers of trees. They are best described as omnivorous, their diet consisting of fruit, grass seeds, and in most cases some quantities of meat and invertebrates—either hunted or scavenged—along with anything else available and easily digested. They are native to Africa and Asia, although humans have spread to all parts of the world.
Most ape species are rare or endangered. The chief threat to most of the endangered species is loss of tropical rainforest habitat, though some populations are further imperiled by hunting for bushmeat.
Historical and modern terminology
"Ape" (Old Eng. apa; Dutch aap; Old Ger. affo; Ger. Affe; Welsh epa; Old Czech op) is a word of uncertain origin and is possibly an onomatopoetic imitation of animal chatter. The term has a history of rather imprecise usage. Its earliest meaning was a tailless (and therefore exceptionally human-like) non-human primate, but as zoological knowledge developed it became clear that taillessness occurred in a number of different and otherwise unrelated species.
The original usage of "ape" in English may have referred to the baboon, an African monkey. Two tailless species of macaque are commonly named as apes, the Barbary Ape of North Africa (introduced into Gibraltar), Macaca sylvanus, and the Sulawesi Black Ape or Celebes Crested Macaque, M. nigra.
Until a handful of decades ago, humans were thought to be distinctly set apart from the other apes (even from the other great apes), so much so that many people still don't think of the term "apes" to include humans at all. However, it is not considered accurate by many biologists to think of apes in a biological sense without considering humans to be included. The terms "non-human apes" or "non-human great apes" is used with increasing frequency to show the monophyletic relationship of humans to the other apes while yet talking only about the non-human species.
A group of apes may be referred to as a troop or a shrewdness.
Biology
The gibbon family, Hylobatidae, is composed of thirteen medium-sized species. Their major distinction is their long arms, which they use to brachiate through the trees. As an evolutionary adaptation to this arboreal lifestyle, their wrists are ball and socket joints. The largest of the gibbons, the Siamang, weighs up to 23 kg (50 lb). In comparison, the smallest great ape is the Common Chimpanzee at a modest 40 to 65 kg (88 to 143 lb).
The great ape family was previously referred to as Pongidae, and humans (and fossil hominids) were omitted from it, but there is no biological case for doing this. However, this definition is still used by many anthropologists and by lay people. However, that definition makes Pongidae paraphyletic, whereas most taxonomists nowadays encourage monophyletic groups. Chimpanzees, gorillas, humans and orangutans are all more closely related to one another than any of these four genera are to the gibbons. However, the term "hominid" is still used with the specific meaning of extinct animals more closely related to humans than the other great apes (for example, australopithecines), even though "hominin" is now correct in that usage. It is now usual to use even finer divisions, such as subfamilies and tribes to distinguish which hominoids are being discussed. Current evidence implies that humans share a common, extinct, ancestor with the chimpanzee line, from which we separated more recently than the gorilla line.
Both great apes and lesser apes fall within Catarrhini, which also includes the Old World monkeys of Africa and Eurasia. Within this group, both families of apes can be distinguished from these monkeys by the number of cusps on their molars (apes have five—the "Y-5" molar pattern, Old World monkeys have only four in a bilophodont pattern). Apes have more mobile shoulder joints and arms due to the dorsal position of the scapula, broad ribcages that are flatter front-to-back, and a shorter, less mobile spine compared to Old World monkeys (with caudal vertebrae greatly reduced, resulting in tail loss in most species). These are all anatomical adaptations to vertical hanging and swinging locomotion (brachiation) in the apes, as well as better balance in a bipedal pose. All living members of the Hylobatidae and Hominidae are tailless, and humans can therefore accurately be referred to as bipedal apes. However, there are also primates in other families that lack tails, and at least one (the Pig-Tailed Langur) that has been known to walk significant distances bipedally. The front skull is characterised by its sinuses, fusion of the frontal bone and Post-Orbital Constriction.
Although the hominoid fossil record is far from complete, and the evidence is often fragmentary, there is enough to give a good outline of the evolutionary history of humans. The time of the split between humans and living apes used to be thought to have occurred 15 to 20 million years ago, or even up to 30 or 40 million years ago. Some apes occurring within that time period, such as Ramapithecus, used to be considered as hominins, and possible ancestors of humans. Later fossil finds indicated that Ramapithecus was more closely related to the orangutan, and new biochemical evidence indicated that the last common ancestor of humans and other hominins occurred between 5 and 10 million years ago, and probably in the lower end of that range.
Cultural aspects of non-human apes
The name "Hominoidea" can be loosely translated as "ape". However, although the superfamily of Hominoidea has always included great apes such as humans, as well as the Hylobatidae, a different connotation of the word "ape" exists in the vernacular. The historical, common usage of the word often excludes humans when referring to apes. Humans are also often excluded from the larger classifications of "animal" and "primate" in common usage, despite belonging to both of these groups as well. The reason for this is that scientific nomenclature and everyday language abide by different rules. Other examples of this are "butterfly" (not a member of Diptera), "ladybird" (not a member of Aves) and "jellyfish" (not a fish). Taxonomic labels can be redefined according to the latest scientific findings; as such, they may or may not overlap with their vernacular counterparts.
Often, non-human apes are said to be the result of a curse—a Jewish folktale claims that one of the races who built the Tower of Babel became apes as punishment, while Muslim lore says that the Jews of Eilat became non-human apes as punishment for fishing on the Sabbath. Some sects of Christianity have folklore that claims that these apes are a symbol of lust and were created by Satan in response to God's creation of humans. It is uncertain whether any of these references are to any specific apes. All of these concepts date from a period when neither the distinction between apes and monkeys, nor the fact that humans are apes, was widely understood, or understood at all.
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apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes cornholios apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes cornholios apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes cornholios apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes cornholios apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes cornholios apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes apes cornholios
Classification and evolution
As discussed above, hominoid taxonomy has undergone several changes. Current understanding is that the apes diverged from the Old World monkeys about 25 million years ago. The lesser and greater apes split about 18 mya, and the hominid splits happened 14 mya (Pongo), 7 mya (Gorilla), and 3-5 mya (Homo & Pan).
- Superfamily Hominoidea
- Family Hylobatidae: gibbons
- Genus Hylobates
- Genus Hoolock
- Genus Symphalangus
- Genus Nomascus
- Family Hominidae: great apes
- Family Hylobatidae: gibbons
Behaviour and cognition
Although there had been earlier studies, the scientific investigation of behaviour and cognition in non-human apes expanded enormously during the latter half of the twentieth century. Major studies of behaviour in the field were completed on the three better-known great apes, for example by Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Birute Galdikas (field work on gibbons and the Bonobo is still relatively underdeveloped). These studies have shown that in their natural environments, the different apes show sharply varying social structure: gibbons are monogamous, territorial pair-bonders, orangutans are solitary, gorillas live in small troops dominated by a single adult male, while chimpanzees live in larger troops with Bonobos exhibiting promiscuous sexual behaviour. Their diets also vary; gorillas are foliovores while the others are all primarily frugivores, although the Common Chimpanzee does some hunting for meat. Foraging behaviour is correspondingly variable.
All the apes are generally thought of as highly intelligent, and scientific study has broadly confirmed that they perform outstandingly well on a wide range of cognitive tests - though again there is relatively little data on gibbon cognition. The early studies by Wolfgang Köhler demonstrated exceptional problem-solving abilities in chimpanzees, which Köhler attributed to insight. The use of tools has been repeatedly demonstrated; more recently, the manufacture of tools has been documented, both in the wild and in laboratory tests. Imitation is much more easily demonstrated in great apes than in other primate species. Almost all the studies in animal language acquisition have been completed with great apes, and though there is continuing dispute as to whether they demonstrate real language abilities, there is no doubt that they involve significant feats of learning. Chimpanzees in different parts of Africa have developed tools that are used in food acquisition, demonstrating a form of animal culture.
Legal status
See also
- Human
- List of fictional apes
- List of apes (for notable non-fictional apes)
References
- ^ Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 178–184. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
- M. Goodman, D. A. Tagle, D. H. Fitch, W. Bailey, J. Czelusniak, B. F. Koop, P. Benson, J. L. Slightom (1990). "Primate evolution at the DNA level and a classification of hominoids". Journal of Molecular Evolution. 30: 260–266.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - William McGrew (1992). Chimpanzee material culture: implications for human evolution.
External links
- Declaration on Great Apes at the Great Ape Project
- Chimp Haven, The National Chimpanzee Sanctuary (ChimpHaven.org)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)- Hominoid systematics: The soft evidence by David Pilbeam Template:Entrez Pubmed. Agreement between cladograms based on molecular and anatomical data.
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