Great apes and humans

Great apes and humans are all in the same primate family, called the Hominidae, and are the largest of the primates. In all species the male is bigger than the female. The great apes include gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans.

Genus

  • Gorillas (Gorilla)

    Gorillas live in central Africa and are the world's largest primates, with wild males weighing over 200kg. There are two species of gorilla, western and eastern, both of which have subspecies.

  • Pan Chimpanzee (species)

  • Pongo Bornean orangutan (species)

About

The Hominidae (anglicized Hominids, also known as great apes) form a taxonomic family, including four extant genera: chimpanzees, gorillas, humans and orangutans.

A number of known extinct genera are grouped with humans in the Hominina subtribe, others with orangutans in the Ponginae subtribe. The most recent common ancestor of the Hominidae lived roughly 14 million years ago, when the ancestors of the orangutans speciated from the ancestors of the other three genera. The ancestors of the Hominidae family had already speciated from those of the Hylobatidae family, perhaps 15-20 million years ago.

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Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animal (animalia)

Class: Mammal (Mammalia)

Order: Primate (Primates)

Family: Hominidae

Other Primates

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