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Ape

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Mammals

                   iApes
   Lar Gibbon (Hylobates lar)
   Lar Gibbon (Hylobates lar)
         Scientific classification

   Kingdom:     Animalia
   Phylum:      Chordata
   Class:       Mammalia
   Order:       Primates
   Suborder:    Haplorrhini
   Parvorder:   Catarrhini
   Superfamily: Hominoidea
                Gray, 1825

                                  Families

   Hylobatidae
   Hominidae

   Apes are the members of the Hominoidea superfamily of primates, which
   includes humans. Under current classification, there are two families
   of hominoids:
     * the family Hylobatidae consists of 4 genera and 12 species of
       gibbons, including the Lar Gibbon and the Siamang, collectively
       known as the "lesser apes"
     * the family Hominidae consisting of gorillas, chimpanzees,
       orangutans, and humans, collectively known as the "great apes".

   A few other primates have the word "ape" in their common names, but
   they are not regarded as true apes by most authorities.

   Except for gorillas and 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; 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 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, even though there might not be much signifigance.
   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). 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, ribcages that are
   flatter front-to-back, and a shorter, less mobile spine compared to Old
   World monkeys. These are all anatomical adaptations to vertical hanging
   and swinging locomotion (brachiation) in the apes. 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.

   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 intelligence and humanoid appearance of apes are responsible for
   legends which attribute human qualities; for example, they are
   sometimes said to be able to speak but refuse to do so in order to
   avoid work.

   They are also 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 apes
   as punishment for fishing on the Sabbath. Some sects of Christian have
   folklore that claims that 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, since all date from a
   period when the distinction between apes and monkeys was not widely
   understood, or not understood at all.

   Humans and the other apes share many similarities, including the
   ability to properly use tools and imitate others. Recent studies at
   Yale test some of these similarities. A professor and his/her students
   gave a challenge to baby humans and baby chimps. Both groups were shown
   a way that might solve this challenge. However, neither group knew that
   the solution they were shown was incorrect. Both times the baby humans
   tried to complete the challenge, they imitated what they were shown and
   failed at the attempt. The chimpanzee babies also failed their first
   attempt, as they too mimicked what they were shown. However, on their
   second attempt, they created a novel solution, and thus completed the
   challenge. The professor interpreted this as meaning that baby chimps
   learn from experience, while baby humans just imitate what they are
   shown. This gave scientists key information in understanding the
   cultural aspects of ape life and evolutionary similarities between
   humans and apes.

   There have also been recent breakthroughs in evidence of ape culture
   that go beyond what was explained above. This was further explored by
   scientists at the convention in St. Louis.

History of hominoid taxonomy

   The history of hominoid taxonomy is somewhat confusing and complex. The
   names of subgroups have changed their meaning over time as new evidence
   from fossil discoveries, anatomy comparisons and DNA sequences, has
   changed understanding of the relationships between hominoids. The story
   of the hominoid taxonomy is one of gradual demotion of humans from a
   special position in the taxonomy to being one branch among many. It
   also illustrates the growing influence of cladistics (the science of
   classifying living things by strict descent) on taxonomy.

   As of 2006, there are eight extant genera of hominoids. They are the
   four great ape genera ( Homo (humans), Pan (chimpanzees), Gorilla, and
   Pongo (orangutans)), and the four genera of gibbons ( Hylobates,
   Hoolock, Nomascus, and Symphalangus). (The genus for the hoolock
   gibbons was recently changed from Bunopithecus to Hoolock.)

   In 1758, Carolus Linnaeus, relying on second- or third-hand accounts,
   placed a second species in Homo along with H. sapiens: Homo troglodytes
   ("cave-dwelling man"). It is not clear to which animal this name
   refers, as Linnaeus had no specimen to refer to, hence no precise
   description. Linnaeus named the orangutan Simia satyrus ("satyr
   monkey"). He placed the three genera Homo, Simia and Lemur in the
   family of Primates.

   The troglodytes name was used for the chimpanzee by Blumenbach in 1775
   but moved to the genus Simia. The orangutan was moved to the genus
   Pongo in 1799 by Lacépède.

   Linnaeus's inclusion of humans in the primates with monkeys and apes
   was troubling for people who denied a close relationship between humans
   and the rest of the animal kingdom. Linnaeus's Lutheran Archbishop had
   accused him of "impiety." In a letter to Johann Georg Gmelin dated
   February 25, 1747, Linnaeus wrote:

          It is not pleasing to me that I must place humans among the
          primates, but man is intimately familiar with himself. Let's not
          quibble over words. It will be the same to me whatever name is
          applied. But I desperately seek from you and from the whole
          world a general difference between men and simians from the
          principles of Natural History. I certainly know of none. If only
          someone might tell me one! If I called man a simian or vice
          versa I would bring together all the theologians against me.
          Perhaps I ought to, in accordance with the law of Natural
          History.

   Accordingly, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in the first edition of his
   Manual of Natural History (1779), proposed that the primates be divided
   into the Quadrumana (four-handed, i.e. apes and monkeys) and Bimana
   (two-handed, ie. humans). This distinction was taken up by other
   naturalists, most notably Georges Cuvier. Some elevated the distinction
   to the level of order.

   However, the many affinities between humans and other primates — and
   especially the great apes — made it clear that the distinction made no
   scientific sense. Charles Darwin wrote, in The Descent of Man:

          The greater number of naturalists who have taken into
          consideration the whole structure of man, including his mental
          faculties, have followed Blumenbach and Cuvier, and have placed
          man in a separate Order, under the title of the Bimana, and
          therefore on an equality with the orders of the Quadrumana,
          Carnivora, etc. Recently many of our best naturalists have
          recurred to the view first propounded by Linnaeus, so remarkable
          for his sagacity, and have placed man in the same Order with the
          Quadrumana, under the title of the Primates. The justice of this
          conclusion will be admitted: for in the first place, we must
          bear in mind the comparative insignificance for classification
          of the great development of the brain in man, and that the
          strongly-marked differences between the skulls of man and the
          Quadrumana (lately insisted upon by Bischoff, Aeby, and others)
          apparently follow from their differently developed brains. In
          the second place, we must remember that nearly all the other and
          more important differences between man and the Quadrumana are
          manifestly adaptive in their nature, and relate chiefly to the
          erect position of man; such as the structure of his hand, foot,
          and pelvis, the curvature of his spine, and the position of his
          head.

   Until about 1960, the hominoids were usually divided into two families:
   humans and their extinct relatives in Hominidae, the other apes in
   Pongidae.

   The 1960s saw the application of techniques from molecular biology to
   primate taxonomy. Goodman used his 1963 immunological study of serum
   proteins to propose a division of the hominoids into three families,
   with the non-human great apes in Pongidae and the lesser apes (gibbons)
   in Hylobatidae. The trichotomy of hominoid families, however, prompted
   scientists to ask which family speciated first from the common hominoid
   ancestor.

   Within the superfamily Hominoidea, gibbons are the outgroup: this means
   that the rest of the hominoids are more closely related to each other
   than any of them are to gibbons. This led to the placing of the other
   great apes into the family Hominidae along with humans, by demoting the
   Pongidae to a subfamily; the Hominidae family now contained the
   subfamilies Homininae and Ponginae. Again, the three-way split in
   Ponginae led scientists to ask which of the three genera is least
   related to the others.

   Investigation showed orangutans to be the outgroup, but comparing
   humans to all three other hominid genera showed that African apes
   (chimpanzees and gorillas) and humans are more closely related to each
   other than any of them are to orangutans. This led to the placing of
   the African apes in the subfamily Homininae, forming another three-way
   split. This classification was first proposed by M. Goodman in 1974.

   To try to resolve the hominine trichotomy, some authors proposed the
   division of the subfamily Homininae into the tribes Gorillini (African
   apes) and Hominini (humans).

   However, DNA comparisons provide convincing evidence that within the
   subfamily Homininae, gorillas are the outgroup. This suggests that
   chimpanzees should be in Hominini along with humans. This
   classification was first proposed (though one rank lower) by M. Goodman
   et. al. in 1990. See Human evolutionary genetics for more information
   on the speciation of humans and great apes.

   Later DNA comparisons split the gibbon genus Hylobates into four
   genera: Hylobates, Hoolock, Nomascus, and Symphalangus.

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 happen 14 mya (Pongo), 7 mya
   (Gorilla), and 3-5 mya (Homo & Pan)
     * Superfamily Hominoidea
          + Family Hylobatidae: gibbons
               o Genus Hylobates
               o Genus Hoolock
               o Genus Symphalangus
               o Genus Nomascus
          + Family Hominidae: great apes
               o Genus Pongo: orangutans
               o Genus Gorilla: gorillas
               o Genus Homo: humans
               o Genus Pan: chimpanzees

Legal status

          See Primate#Legal_status

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