The largest apes are the gorillas of Africa. They have massive heads with heavy, thick muscles on top that are used to close crushing jaws. Their bodies are stout and very muscular. Knuckle walking subadult male lowland gorilla. Like humans, gorillas are terrestrial animals.
They are quadrupedal knuckle walkers. That is, they walk on the soles of their feet but not on the palms of their hands. They bend their fingers and support the upper end of their bodies with their knuckles instead of their open palms. They are shy, peaceful vegetarians who usually flee from humans and rarely fight even among themselves. They live in family groups consisting of a dominant adult male with several adult female mates and their children. These groups grow over time to 20 or more individuals.
Subadult males are tolerated in the family as long as they are not actively competing with the dominant male for mates. Gorillas are highly sexually dimorphic. A dult males average about 3 5 0 pounds kg. There are three varieties, or subspecies, of gorillas. The rare mountain gorilla variety live s at high altitude in sparse woodlands in the mountains of Central Africa.
As of , there were only of them still alive. T he more numerous lowland gorilla varieties live in the dense forests of West Africa. Most zoo gorillas are of the lowland varieties. Female lowland gorilla Common chimpanzee Mutual grooming common chimpanzees The common c himpanzees more closely resemble humans than do the gorillas. C himpanzees are comfortable walking quadrupedally on the ground in addition to climbing in trees. They are knuckle walkers like gorillas.
The natural habitat of chimpanzees includes both tropical forests and bordering savannas in Africa. Chimps are intelligent animals with generally pleasant personalities. However, the males are less peaceful than the smaller females. This behavior difference is typical of most primate species , including humans. Males are more likely to eat meat than are females, although chimp hunting skills are relatively poor.
Chimpanzees live in fluid societies of individuals without monogamous mating bonds. Membership changes through time as females move from one community to another apparently seeking new mates. In contrast, m ales usually stay together in their natal community throughout their lives and act as a group in defending the food resources of their territory against incursions by other chimpanzee communities.
These interactions can be quite noisy, violent, and sometimes fatal. B onobo s are close relatives of common chimpanzees in the same genus, Pan. Their similarity is due to the fact that they had a common ancestor only about two million years ago. Bonobos are sometimes referred to as pygmy chimpanzee s. Despite th is name, they are only slightly smaller than the common chimps. Bonobos usually have blacker hair with tufts at the side of their faces, longer arms and legs, as well as slimmer bodies.
Their high pitched vocalizations are also quite different from those of the common chimpanzees. Like many of the Old World monkey species, adult female bonobos normally have prominent "sexual skins.
Bonobos have fluid social groupings similar to the common chimpanzees, although bonobos are less excitable and aggressive. Male-female alliances also are more important for bonobos. Older females at times even become group leaders. And chimpanzees can even be taught to use some basic human sign language.
Chimpanzees have the widest range of any great ape. Though many populations live in tropical rainforests, they can also be found in woodlands and grasslands spanning from central to western Africa. They usually sleep in trees—typically the sturdy Ugandan ironwood tree, which offers the most firm and stable place to sleep—and build themselves nests of leaves. Chimps also do most of their eating in trees.
Though they generally prefer fruits and plants, they have a varied diet that also includes insects, eggs, nuts, and hundreds of other things. They relish meat, and have been known to kill and eat monkeys , small antelope, and even tortoises , which they slam against trees to break open their shells. Females chimpanzees can give birth at any time of year, typically to a single infant that clings to its mother's fur and later rides on her back until the time of weaning between ages three and five.
Females reach reproductive age at 13, while males are not considered adults until they are The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has declared the chimpanzee an endangered species—and the booming human population is primarily to blame. In western Uganda, habitat loss has fueled conflict between humans and our closest relatives. Deforestation not only makes it harder for chimps to find a place to live, but it also strains their wild food supply.
In desperation, many resort to foraging from the homes of humans nearby. Though they mostly steal fruit and other food within reach, the apes occasionally snatch and kill small children. Humans kill chimps in retaliation and to protect their families from future attacks. Bushmeat hunters target chimps because they provide more meat than smaller mammals, sometimes collecting their offspring as pets for themselves or to sell into the illegal pet trade.
And chimpanzees are susceptible to infectious diseases, too. Since the s, the Ebola virus has killed them in significant numbers. Great apes are a WWF priority species. As such, we are working to ensure great apes can live and thrive in their natural habitats.
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Toggle navigation. Language English. Apes also have larger brains than monkeys, and they are capable of using tools and learning language. Just like their classifications suggest, great apes are large, while lesser apes are small.
Gorillas , the largest of the apes, typically are about 4. Mountain gorillas, though, can grow to 6 feet tall and weigh to lbs. Orangutans are the world's largest tree-dwelling animal. They grow to 4 to 4. Gibbons and siamangs are much smaller than great apes. They typically weigh around 9 to 28 lbs. Siamangs grow to The habitats of great apes and lesser apes are very limited. The great apes live in Africa and Asia, according to the National Zoo.
They tend to live in jungles, mountainous areas and savannas. Lesser apes live in Asia in evergreen tropical rainforests and monsoon forests.
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