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SUMMARY OF THE GREAT APES

The great apes, just like humans, are primates and all belong to the same taxonomic family (Hominidae), with seven living species currently recognized. Six are confined to various forested or wooded habitats in the Old World Tropics (the tropical parts of Africa and Eurasia). All of these are considered under threat of extinction, some critically so. The seventh is ubiquitous and enormously abundant, probably the most numerous large animal that has ever lived. That is Homo sapiens, our own species. The perilous state of the other members of the family Hominidae is due directly or indirectly to the activities of humans.

Apart from Homo there are three genera of living great apes: the gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans. The first two of these are confined to Africa, while the third occurs in Southeast Asia, on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia and Malaysia. The gorillas are divided into the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) and the western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla). The eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) comprises the subspecies: eastern lowland gorilla or the Grauers gorilla (G.beringei graueri), the mountain gorilla (G. beringei beringei) and the Bwindi gorilla (G. beringei ssp). The western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) comprises the subspecies: western lowland gorilla (G.gorilla gorilla) and the cross-river gorilla (G gorilla diehli). The chimpanzees comprise the bonobo or pygmy chimpanzee (Pan paniscus) and the robust chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), which has the subspecies: western chimpanzee (P.troglodytes verus), Nigeria chimpanzee (P.troglodytes vellerosus) central chimpanzee (P.troglodytes troglodytes) and the eastern chimpanzee (P.troglodytes schweinfurthii). The orangutans are separated into the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) and the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).

Great apes share more than 96 percent of their DNA with humans. For chimpanzees the figure is as high as 98.4%. The African apes are in fact more closely related to humans than they are to orangutans. So close is our relationship that a taxonomist from another planet would probably classify humans as another African ape species.

Photos on this website courtesy of William Calvin, Jeff Canin, Aleisha Caruso, Debby Cox, Furuichi c/o JGI Uganda, Kris Descovich, Lola Ya Bonobo sanctuary, Tony Gilding, Selby King, Carlos Schuler, Jodie Sheridan

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