Posted by | Posted in Rare Animal | Posted on 20-09-2011
Tags: bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, Great Ape, Great Apes, orangutan, Rare Animal, The Great Ape
The great apes belong to the taxanomic family of Homindae. The original meaning of Homindae is ‘only humans and their closest relatives’ and thus it includes our closest relatives-chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutan, gorillas- and us, humans. Apes are our closest wild relatives and all members of this family share more than 97% of their DNA. Most of the chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas are found in Central Africa with exception of orangutan which is found in the Borneo and Sumantra islands of Indonesia in Asia.
Apes are not monkeys as they are more intelligent than monkeys and unlike monkeys they don’t have a tail. Apes are larger in size and depend more on their eyes than on their noses. They have larger and more developed brains that make them capable of using tools, learning and passing information and some have even been taught sign language. A very famous gorilla Koko uses about 1,000 signs for communicating.
The most fascinating thing about Apes is that they resemble humans a lot. Most of them use facial expressions and gestures that look like ours but their meaning may differ. Except for gorillas and humans, hominoids are agile climbers of trees and they mostly eat leaves, nuts, seeds and fruits, including grass seeds, and in most cases other animals, either hunted or scavenged (or farmed in the case of humans), along with anything else available and easily digested. They can be described as vegetarian or omnivorous.
The one thing that separates us humans and other hominoids is the population. We humans have grown so much in number that we have occupied the land where are relatives were to live. Most apes are rare or endangered. The chief threat to most of the endangered species is loss of tropical rainforest habitat, though some populations on the other hand, are further imperilled by hunting for bush meat.
The most fascinating thing about Apes is that they resemble humans a lot. Most of them use facial expressions and gestures that look like ours but their meaning may differ. Except for gorillas and humans, hominoids are agile climbers of trees and they mostly eat leaves, nuts, seeds and fruits, including grass seeds, and in most cases other animals, either hunted or scavenged (or farmed in the case of humans), along with anything else available and easily digested. They can be described as vegetarian or omnivorous.
The one thing that separates us humans and other hominoids is the population. We humans have grown so much in number that we have occupied the land where are relatives were to live. Most apes are rare or endangered. The chief threat to most of the endangered species is loss of tropical rainforest habitat, though some populations on the other hand, are further imperilled by hunting for bush meat.

Habitat loss, climate change, infectious disease and illegal hunting for both meat and the live pet trade have combined to push these species to the brink of extinction. The apes that are on the verge of extinction include Bonobo which is now found only in the rainforests of Central Democratic Republic of Congo. The Borneon Orangutan specie population in Indonesia is also not faring well after the 1997/98 forest fires. It is estimated that about one third population of these Orangutans was lost in this fire.
Apart from these two ape species there are other species also which under the great threat of endangerment. To name a few, the list includes Central Chimpanzee, Cross River Gorillas, Eastern Lowland Gorillas, Mountain Gorillas, Western Chimpanzee and Sumantran Orangutan.
Reference: Illustrated Encyclopedia of endangered animals.


