This is a list of non-human apes of encyclopedic interest. It includes individual chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, and gibbons that are in some way famous or notable.
This is a list of non-human apes of encyclopedic interest. It includes individual chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, and gibbons that are in some way famous or notable.
The chimpanzee, also simply known as the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close relative the bonobo was more commonly known as the pygmy chimpanzee, this species was often called the common chimpanzee or the robust chimpanzee. The chimpanzee and the bonobo are the only species in the genus Pan. Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing shows that Pan is a sister taxon to the human lineage and is thus humans' closest living relative.
Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus Gorilla is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five subspecies. The DNA of gorillas is highly similar to that of humans, from 95 to 99% depending on what is included, and they are the next closest living relatives to humans after chimpanzees.
The genus Pan consists of two extant species: the chimpanzee and the bonobo. Taxonomically, these two ape species are collectively termed panins. The two species were formerly collectively called "chimpanzees" or "chimps"; if bonobos were recognized as a separate group at all, they were referred to as "pygmy" or "gracile chimpanzees". Together with humans, gorillas, and orangutans they are part of the family Hominidae. Native to sub-Saharan Africa, chimpanzees and bonobos are currently both found in the Congo jungle, while only the chimpanzee is also found further north in West Africa. Both species are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and in 2017 the Convention on Migratory Species selected the chimpanzee for special protection.
Hanabiko, nicknamed "Koko" was a female western lowland gorilla born in the San Francisco Zoo and cross-fostered by Francine Patterson for use in ape language experiments. Koko gained public attention as the subject of two National Geographic cover stories and, in 1980, the best-selling children's picture book, Koko's Kitten. Koko became the world's most famous representative of her critically endangered species.
Great ape personhood is a movement to extend personhood and some legal protections to the non-human members of the great ape family: bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans.
Binti Jua is a female western lowland gorilla resident at the Brookfield Zoo, in Brookfield, Illinois, outside Chicago, United States. She received media attention after a situation in 1996 in which she tended to a three-year-old boy who had been injured by falling into her enclosure.
Twycross Zoo is a medium to large zoo near Norton Juxta Twycross, Leicestershire. The zoo has the largest collection of monkeys and apes in the Western World, and in 2006 re-launched itself as "Twycross Zoo – The World Primate Centre".
Kanzi, also known by the lexigram , is a male bonobo who has been the subject of several studies on great ape language. According to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, a primatologist who has studied the bonobo throughout her life, Kanzi has exhibited advanced linguistic aptitude.
Great ape language research historically involved attempts to teach chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans to communicate using imitative human speech, sign language, physical tokens and computerized lexigrams. These studies were controversial, with debate focused on the definition of language, the welfare of test subjects, and the anthropocentric nature of this line of inquiry.
Apenheul Primate Park is a zoo in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. It specializes in apes and monkeys. It opened in 1971 and was the first zoo in the world where monkeys could walk around freely in the forest and between the visitors. It started with just a few species, now it displays more than 30 different primates, among them bonobo, gorilla and orangutan.
The western lowland gorilla is one of two Critically Endangered subspecies of the western gorilla that lives in montane, primary and secondary forest and lowland swampland in central Africa in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. It is the nominate subspecies of the western gorilla, and the smallest of the four gorilla subspecies.
Emily Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is a psychologist and primatologist most known for her work with two bonobos, Kanzi and Panbanisha, investigating their linguistic and cognitive abilities using lexigrams and computer-based keyboards. Originally based at Georgia State University's Language Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, she worked at the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary in Des Moines, Iowa from 2006 until her departure in November 2013.
Michael was a male gorilla involved in experiments to teach apes sign language. He is alleged to have had a working vocabulary of over 600 signs in American Sign Language, taught to him by Koko, a female gorilla; Francine Patterson; and other staff of Stanford University. Michael, an orphan, spent most of his life in Woodside, California, where he became known for painting. Both Michael and Koko’s linguistic abilities are widely rejected by specialists, despite popular perception to the contrary.
Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence is a 1996 book by Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson examining the evolutionary factors leading to human male violence.
The Hominidae, whose members are known as the great apes or hominids, are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: Pongo ; Gorilla ; Pan ; and Homo, of which only modern humans remain.
Panbanisha, also known by the lexigram , was a female bonobo that featured in studies on great ape language by Professor Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. Her name is Swahili for "to cleave together for the purpose of contrast."
Human Ape is a 2008 National Geographic documentary film on the genetic and evolutionary origins of human behavior, and covers the genetic and behavioural similarities and differences between humans and other great apes. Pioneer Productions of London was commissioned by National Geographic Channels International to produce Human Ape. Human Ape was executive produced by Stuart Carter and directed by Martin Gorst. distributed by National Geographic Channel and Granada International.
Ndume "En-doo-may" is a male western lowland gorilla known for having learned a number of signs adapted from American Sign Language (ASL) and for being at the center of lawsuit over his custody between the Cincinnati Zoo and the Gorilla Foundation. Ndume has lived most of his life at the Gorilla Foundation in Woodside, California, but has also lived at the Cincinnati Zoo and the Brookfield Zoo. Following a lawsuit, Ndume was transferred back to the Cincinnati Zoo from the Gorilla Foundation on June 14, 2019.
Panpanzee the chimpanzee, was born at the Language Research Center at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. She lived the rest of her life at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa. Her half-brother is Kanzi, a famous bonobo. Kanzi learned 348 lexigram symbols and over 3,000 words from the English language over her lifespan.
Ozoum, commonly referred to as Ozzie, was an African-born western lowland gorilla who was a subject of research at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in the U.S. state of Georgia from 1964 until 1988, when he was transferred to Zoo Atlanta. In 2009, he was the first gorilla to "volunteer" for a blood pressure test. Before his death at age 60, he was the oldest recorded male gorilla in captivity.
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