Apes, belonging to the superfamily Hominoidea, are tailless primates found in the tropical forests of western and central Africa and Southeast Asia. Apes are set apart from monkeys because they lack a tail and possess an appendix and more complex brains. The ape superfamily consists of two families: Hylobatidae (gibbons) and Hominidae (which includes chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas and humans). The great apes (gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans) are more intelligent than monkeys and gibbons. All nonhuman apes have been classified as endangered species .

How are apes different from monkeys?

Apes and monkeys are both primates, but they differ in several ways. The most obvious difference is that almost all monkeys have tails, while apes do not. Apes are generally larger than monkeys, have broader chests, and possess shoulder joints that enable them to swing through trees. While some monkeys can also swing, most are built for running across branches. Apes also have an appendix, which monkeys lack. In terms of intelligence, apes are generally more intelligent than monkeys, and most ape species use tools. Both apes and monkeys communicate through sounds and gestures, but apes have demonstrated a higher capacity for language, and some have been trained in human sign languages. There are only a few species of apes, including humans, gibbons, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas, while there are hundreds of monkey species.

What are the main types of apes?

Apes, belonging to the superfamily Hominoidea, are tailless primates found in Africa and Southeast Asia. They are divided into two families: Hylobatidae (gibbons) and Hominidae (which includes chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, and humans). The great apes include gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans, while the lesser apes are the gibbons. Gibbons are smaller, arboreal primates known for their ability to swing through trees. Great apes are more intelligent and display advanced cognitive abilities such as self-recognition and tool use.

Where do apes live in the wild?

Apes, members of the superfamily Hominoidea, which includes gibbons and great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas), inhabit the tropical forests of western and central Africa and Southeast Asia.

How do apes communicate with each other?

Apes, such as chimpanzees, communicate through a range of methods including facial expressions, gestures, and vocalizations . These vocalizations include screams, hoots, grunts, and roars. Apes use louder calls and gestures like drumming on tree buttresses for long-distance communication and quieter calls and facial expressions for short-distance communication. Chimpanzees also display excitement and use tools in communication and can show cultural differences in communication. Some facial expressions of chimpanzees resemble those of humans.

What traits make apes similar to humans?

Apes and humans share several similarities as members of the primate family. Both can stand or sit erect and have broad chests with shoulder blades on their backs, allowing for a wide range of motion. Apes lack external tails, have a flexible wrist structure, and a shortened lower back. Compared to other animals, apes require a long time to grow into adults, allowing them to learn survival skills from adults and peers. DNA analysis reveals that humans and chimpanzees share approximately 99% identical genomes, further solidifying their close evolutionary relationship.

ape

Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Illustration comparing the body plans of representative anthropoids, showing a male western lowland gorilla, a male human, a male bonobo, a female Bornean orangutan, and male and female northern white-cheeked gibbons, all labeled and depicted to scale.

Female orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) with reddish-brown fur sits on tree branches in a lush rainforest in Borneo.

The video thumbnail image shows two black and white photos of monkey and ape heads, surrounded by blue and pink circles.

A gorilla sits on a tree trunk with a blue arrow pointing to it. Large text reads, "What makes apes so special?" with trees and zoo habitat in the background.

Diagram tracing the evolutionary split of humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas over the past 12 million years, with skull illustrations for key hominin species and African great apes, and branching lines showing divergence points.

A mother orangutan hangs from a tree branch while her baby clings to her side in the forest of Mount Leuser National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia.

A siamang (Hylobates syndactylus) with black fur sits on rocky ground, facing left, with large rocks in the background.

At a Glance

ape summary

Quick Facts

Key People:: Robert M. Yerkes

Related Topics:: gibbon; How Do Monkeys and Apes Trim Their Fingernails?; Hominidae; lesser ape; great ape

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ape

mammal

Also known as: Hominoidea

Written by

Colin Peter Groves

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History

Top Questions

What is an ape?
Apes, belonging to the superfamily Hominoidea, are tailless primates found in the tropical forests of western and central Africa and Southeast Asia. Apes are set apart from monkeys because they lack a tail and possess an appendix and more complex brains.

The ape superfamily consists of two families: Hylobatidae (gibbons) and Hominidae (which includes chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas and humans). The great apes (gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans) are more intelligent than monkeys and gibbons. All nonhuman apes have been classified as endangered species.
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How are apes different from monkeys?
Apes and monkeys are both primates, but they differ in several ways. The most obvious difference is that almost all monkeys have tails, while apes do not. Apes are generally larger than monkeys, have broader chests, and possess shoulder joints that enable them to swing through trees. While some monkeys can also swing, most are built for running across branches. Apes also have an appendix, which monkeys lack. In terms of intelligence, apes are generally more intelligent than monkeys, and most ape species use tools. Both apes and monkeys communicate through sounds and gestures, but apes have demonstrated a higher capacity for language, and some have been trained in human sign languages.

There are only a few species of apes, including humans, gibbons, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas, while there are hundreds of monkey species.
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What are the main types of apes?
Apes, belonging to the superfamily Hominoidea, are tailless primates found in Africa and Southeast Asia. They are divided into two families: Hylobatidae (gibbons) and Hominidae (which includes chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, and humans).

The great apes include gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans, while the lesser apes are the gibbons. Gibbons are smaller, arboreal primates known for their ability to swing through trees. Great apes are more intelligent and display advanced cognitive abilities such as self-recognition and tool use.
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Where do apes live in the wild?
Apes, members of the superfamily Hominoidea, which includes gibbons and great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas), inhabit the tropical forests of western and central Africa and Southeast Asia.
- African apes Gorillas inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. Bonobos are exclusively found in the lowland rainforests along the south bank of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Asian apes Orangutans are native to the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.
- Gibbons live in Southeast Asia.
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How do apes communicate with each other?
Apes, such as chimpanzees, communicate through a range of methods including facial expressions, gestures, and vocalizations. These vocalizations include screams, hoots, grunts, and roars. Apes use louder calls and gestures like drumming on tree buttresses for long-distance communication and quieter calls and facial expressions for short-distance communication.

Chimpanzees also display excitement and use tools in communication and can show cultural differences in communication. Some facial expressions of chimpanzees resemble those of humans.
2 Britannica Sources
1. chimpanzee: Intelligence
2. nonverbal communication: Cultural and evolutionary factors
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What traits make apes similar to humans?
Apes and humans share several similarities as members of the primate family. Both can stand or sit erect and have broad chests with shoulder blades on their backs, allowing for a wide range of motion. Apes lack external tails, have a flexible wrist structure, and a shortened lower back.

Compared to other animals, apes require a long time to grow into adults, allowing them to learn survival skills from adults and peers. DNA analysis reveals that humans and chimpanzees share approximately 99% identical genomes, further solidifying their close evolutionary relationship.
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Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

ape, (superfamily Hominoidea), any tailless primate of the families Hylobatidae (gibbons) and Hominidae (chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, and human beings). Apes are found in the tropical forests of western and central Africa and Southeast Asia. Apes are distinguished from monkeys by the complete absence of a tail and the presence of an appendix and by their more complex brains. Although human beings are categorized zoologically as members of the broader ape superfamily, they are usually placed within their own subcategories on account of their larger brain size, more advanced cognitive abilities (particularly the ability to speak), and striding two-legged gait.

The gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo, and orangutan are called great apes in recognition of their comparatively large size and humanlike features; the gibbons are called lesser apes. The great apes are much more intelligent than monkeys and gibbons. Great apes, for example, are able to recognize themselves in mirrors (monkeys and other nonhumans cannot, with the exception of bottlenose dolphins). They can also reason abstractly, learn quasi-linguistic communication, at least when taught by humans, and learn in captivity to make simple tools (though some populations of orangutans and chimpanzees make tools in the wild). The great apes were formerly classified in their own family, Pongidae, but, because of their extremely close relation to humans and the fact that orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees are not as closely related to each other as chimpanzees are to humans, all are now grouped with humans in the family Hominidae. Within this family, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans make up the subfamily Homininae, while orangutans are placed in their own subfamily, Ponginae. Within Homininae, humans are often placed in their own “tribe,” Hominini. Also placed in distinct tribes are gorillas (tribe Gorillini) and chimpanzees (tribe Panini). All nonhuman apes have been classified as endangered species.

Gibbons (family Hylobatidae) typically move about by swinging (brachiation), and it has been theorized that the ancestors of all apes may once have moved in this way. Nonhuman apes can stand or sit erect with great facility, and occasionally they walk upright, especially when carrying an object. Apes have broad chests, scapulae on the back, and full rotation at the shoulder. There is a pad of cartilage (meniscus) between the ulna and the carpal bones in the wrist that gives the wrist great flexibility. The lumbar section of the spine (lower back) has only four to six vertebrae instead of the seven or more of Old World monkeys. There is no external tail; instead, the remnant three to six vertebrae are fused into the tailbone, or coccyx.

Dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius). Animals, mammals.

Britannica Quiz

Ultimate Animals Quiz

The gibbons and the orangutan are arboreal, while the gorilla, chimpanzee, and bonobo spend some or much of their time on the ground. African apes (gorilla, chimpanzee, and bonobo) travel on the ground by quadrupedal knuckle walking, in which the long fingers of the forelimbs are folded under to provide support for the body. Fruits and other plant material are the chief foods, though small invertebrates are eaten occasionally by all apes, and chimpanzees hunt large vertebrates, especially monkeys. Most apes lodge at night in trees, and all except gibbons build nests for sleeping. Group size ranges from the virtually solitary orangutan to the sociable chimpanzees and bonobos, which may live in bands of 100 or more.

Hominidae and Hylobatidae diverged about 18 million years ago, but the evolutionary history of the apes includes numerous extinct forms, many of which are known only from fragmentary remains. The earliest-known hominoids are from Egypt and date from about 36.6 million years ago. Fossil genera include Catopithecus and Aegyptopithecus, possible successive ancestors of both the Old World monkeys and the apes. Later deposits have yielded such fossils as Pliopithecus, once thought to be related to gibbons but now known to be primitive and long separated from them. Closer to the modern apes are Proconsul, Afropithecus, Dryopithecus, and Sivapithecus, the latter being a possible ancestor of the orangutan.

Colin Peter Groves

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