It is a popular belief that both apes and humans share a common ancestor as far as millions of years ago. Several differences from common behavioural aspects of ancestors occurred with time.
The changes were influenced by nature and led to the complete segregation of common ancestors, particularly apes and humans.
Apes are humans’ closest living relatives, which is why we look almost similar. We are nothing but more modified and evolved apes.
So, changes that occurred in this passage of time are several, and this article focuses on differentiating apes and humans.
Key Takeaways
- Apes are a group of primates, including gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans.
- Humans belong to the same family as apes but exhibit unique characteristics like advanced cognition and bipedalism.
- Apes and humans share a common ancestor but evolved into distinct species.
Apes vs Humans
The difference between the apes and humans is their extant branches. Apes are human’s close relatives consisting of extant branches (lesser and great apes). On the other hand, humans are the sole extant members belonging to the subtribe hominin.
When it comes to close relatives of humans, apes are one of them, and even humans are also a type of apes.
There are two classifications of non-human apes: greater apes (Hominidae) and lesser apes (Hylobatidae).
Human comes from a Latin word that means all-knowing. They are equipped with exceptional brain capability and logical reasoning.
The Discovery of unknown objects and reasonings sets humans apart in comparison to any other mammals.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Apes | Humans |
|---|---|---|
| Interpretation | It is a group of human’s close relatives who are tailless primates. | They are the only extant members belonging to subtribe hominin. |
| Skin | Hairs of skin are thick | Hairs of skin are very fine |
| Posture | Semi erect | Complete erect |
| Forelimbs | Longer than hind limbs | Shorter than hind limbs |
| Intelligence | Low | High |
What are Apes?
Apes are any tailless primate that belongs to the families of Hominidae and Hylobatidae. They are found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia and central and western Africa.
They can be distinguished from the monkey by appendix presence and tail absence and by their complex brains.
Human beings are classified zoologically as broader ape superfamily members. They are commonly placed with their subcategories because of their more advanced cognitive abilities, striding two-legged gait, and larger brain size.
Their scientific name is Hominidae.
Great apes consist of orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas due to their comparatively human-like features and large size. Lesser apes consist of gibbons.
In comparison to gibbons and monkeys, great apps are much more intelligent. They can also learn quasi-linguistic communication and reason abstractly if taught by humans and can learn to make simple tools.
Formerly, great apes were categorized in their own family, namely Pongidae, due to their close relation to humans.
Chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas are not as closely related to one another as compared to chimpanzees are to humans. Hominidae is the group where they all are placed with humans.
Within this family, chimpanzees, humans, and gorillas are make up the Homininae as a subfamily.
What are Humans?
Large complex brains and bipedalism mainly categorize humans. They are the most widespread and abundant species of primate.
As a result, advanced culture, language, and tools are developed. Humans live in a complex social structure that is composed of competing and cooperating groups.
Human social interactions have led to various rituals, values, and social norms that bolster human society.
The desire and curiosity to influence and understand the environment and to manipulate and explain phenomena have motivated the development of religion, philosophy, science, mythology, and other fields of knowledge.
The environment and genes influence human biological variation in physiology, mental abilities, visible characteristics, lifespan, disease susceptibility, and body size. According to traits, human varies,
and only two humans are 99% similar. Africa is the only country that has a diverse population when it comes to genetics.
Main Differences Between Apes and Humans
- Apes can drink as well as breathe at the same time. On the other hand, among mammals, humans are the only ones that cannot drink as well as breathe all at once.
- Apes can grasp objects by using their feet. On the flip side, this ability to grasp objects through their feet lacks in humans.
- When it comes to locomotion, it is common to use both legs and hands for movement in apes and known as quadrupedal locomotion, whereas human uses only two legs which are known as bipedal locomotion.
- Opposable hallux or great toes are present in apes and can move them, whereas lateral movement lacks in humans because they have non-opposable hallux.
- In terms of making simple tools and employing them, only a very few apes have this ability. But humans can make greater complexity tools and employ them.
- https://api.taylorfrancis.com/content/books/mono/download?identifierName=doi&identifierValue=10.4324/9781315009469&type=googlepdf
- https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199701163360306
Last Updated : 11 June, 2023
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
It’s always fascinating to learn about our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. They are such interesting creatures.
This detailed comparison is exactly what I’ve been looking for! I will be saving this article for future reference.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article and I’m glad to have come across it.
The comparison table was particularly useful to see the differences side by side.
Thank you for this detailed explanation! It helped me to understand the differences between humans and apes. Very informative!
This read was very interesting and worthwhile, I’ve learned a lot
I agree with you, this article made things much clearer to me as well!
A deeper dive into such fascinating topic would be enriched with further look into how these differences have developed over time.
Absolutely, it would be beneficial to understand the evolutionary process that led to such variations.
This is a well researched and written article, I can tell the author has a high degree of expertise in this field.
The differences between apes and humans are much more complex than I previously thought. This article has broadened my knowledge on the topic.