Ranger Rick Zoobooks: Apes
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Apes are a lot like people. They can stand up straight, they have fingernails and fingerprints, and they are very smart. Most interesting of all, they seem to have some of our human emotions.
Apes and humans are so similar they are called anthropoid or “man-like” apes. The DNA of humans differs from that of chimpanzees and bonobos (also called pygmy chimpanzees) by less than two percent.
The larger anthropoids—gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and bonobos—are known as the great apes. The smaller gibbons and siamangs are the “lesser” apes.
Gorillas are the biggest. A gorilla can reach a height of 6 feet 2 inches, but most adult males are 5 feet 8 or 9 inches. They weigh about 350 pounds, and are very strong. Bonobos and chimpanzees—the smallest of the great apes—only weigh up to 150 pounds. Great apes can live for 50 years or more.
