Members of the superfamily are called hominoids (not to be confused with the family of "hominids" – great apes, the subfamily of hominines, the tribe of "hominins" aka the human clade, or the subtribe of hominans). Some or all hominoids are also called "apes". However, the term "ape" is used in several different senses. It has been used as a synonym for "monkey" or for any tailless primate with a humanlike appearance.[7] Thus the Barbary macaque, a kind of monkey, is popularly called the "Barbary ape" to indicate its lack of a tail. Biologists have used the term "ape" to mean a member of the superfamily Hominoidea other than humans,[3] or more recently to mean all members of the superfamily Hominoidea, so that "ape" becomes another word for "hominoid".[6][8] See also Primate: Historical and modern terminology. Except for gorillas and humans, hominoids are agile climbers of trees. Their diet is best described as frugivorous and folivorous, consisting mainly of fruit, nuts, seeds, including grass seeds, and in some cases other animals,[9][10] either hunted or scavenged (or farmed solely in the case of humans), along with anything else available and easily digested. Most non-human hominoids 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", from Old English apa, with cognates in several other Germanic languages, is a word of uncertain origin.[11] It is possibly an onomatopoetic imitation of animal chatter.[citation needed] The term has a history of rather imprecise usage. Its earliest meaning was that of any non-human primate, later often specialized to mean a tailless (and therefore exceptionally human-like) primate.[7][12] The original usage of "ape" in English might have referred to the baboon, an Old World monkey.[citation needed] Two tailless species of macaque have common names including "ape": the Barbary ape of North Africa (introduced into Gibraltar), Macaca sylvanus, and the Sulawesi black ape or Celebes crested macaque, M. nigra. As zoological knowledge developed, it became clear that taillessness occurred in a number of different and otherwise distantly related species. The term "ape" was then used in two different senses, as shown in the 1910 Encyclopædia Britannica entry. Either "ape" was still used for a tailless humanlike primate or it became a synonym for "monkey".[7] Sir Wilfrid Le Gros Clark was one of the primatologists who developed the idea that there were "trends" in primate evolution and that the living members of the order could be arranged in a series, leading through "monkeys" and "apes" to humans. Within this tradition, "ape" refers to all the members of the superfamily Hominoidea, except humans.[3] Thus "apes" are a paraphyletic group, meaning that although all the species of apes descend from a common ancestor, the group does not include all the descendants of that ancestor, because humans are excluded.[13] Greater and lesser[edit]The diagram below shows the commonly accepted evolutionary relationships of the Hominoidea,[2] with the group traditionally called "apes" marked by a bracket.
The "apes" are traditionally divided further into the "lesser apes" and the "great apes":[14]
In summary, there are three common uses of the term "ape": English-speaking non-biologists may not distinguish between "monkeys" and "apes", or may use "ape" for any tailless monkey or non-human hominoid, whereas English-speaking biologists commonly use the term "ape" for all non-human hominoids as shown above. In recent years biologists have generally preferred to use only monophyletic groups in classifications;[15] that is, only groups which include all the descendants of a common ancestor.[16] The superfamily Hominoidea is one such group (or "clade"). Some then use the term "ape" to mean all the members of the superfamily Hominoidea. For example, in a 2005 book, Benton wrote "The apes, Hominoidea, today include the gibbons and orang-utan ... the gorilla and chimpanzee ... and humans".[6] The group traditionally called "apes" by biologists is then called the "non-human apes". See the section History of hominoid taxonomy below for a discussion of changes in scientific classification and terminology. |
This is my ape
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