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.
Featured in the following TV programmes
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Archived
Cousins: APES
Last programme of a three part series on primates.Charlotte UHLENBROEK introduces us to our closest Cousins - the Apes.
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Archived
Journey of Life: HUMANS
Steve Leonard follows in our ancestors' footsteps from chimp-like apes to modern humans.
Genus
Chimpanzees (Pan)Chimpanzee is a genus in the great ape family. The only two species are the familiar common chimpanzee of central and west Africa, and the very closely related bonobo which is only found in the Congo.
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.
Homo
Human (species)
Orangutans (Pongo)Orangutans are Asia's only great apes with one species found on the island of Borneo and the other on Sumatra. They are the largest of the tree-living animals with small weak legs and very powerful, muscular arms that may be as long as two metres.
Earth News
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Malignant malaria found in apes
The parasite which causes malignant malaria in humans has been identified in gorillas for the first time.
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Human-like fossil find is breakthrough of the year
The discovery of a fossilised skeleton that has become a "central character in the story of human evolution" has been named the science breakthrough of 2009.
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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Featured in...
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What on Earth...? 2009
Watch the year's highlights from the BBC's exploration of the planet's hidden corners and rarest creatures: from the turquoise seas of the South Pacific to the Lost Land of the Volcano.
Scientific Classification
Family: Hominidae
Other Primates
- Atelidae (species: Common woolly monkey)
- Gibbons (Hylobatidae)
- Old world monkeys (Cercopithecidae)
- Titis, sakis and uakaris (Cebidae)
- Woolly lemurs and allies (Indridae)
Elsewhere on the web
- Animal Diversity Web (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- Tree of Life web project (tolweb.org)
- Hominidae (wikipedia.org)
Site links
BBC links
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