What is the difference between a ape and a human?

Answer 1

Before I answer this question I need to make the point that although we say hominid to mean modern man and all our descendants, technically and scientifically all the great apes are hominids. A hominid is any member of the family Hominidae which include all the extant and extinct members of Humans, Chimpanzees, Gorillas and Orangutans. If we use the genetically based taxonomic classifications (as we do for almost every other animal on Earth) there is not enough difference to divide us all into separate families. It is more correct to use hominain to describe humans and there descendants, which is a sub tribe of hominins which include humans and chimpanzees.

Hominains (which include the genus homo and the genus australopithacus) differ from the great apes in one respect, bipedal walking. It is the one defining characteristic that tell us any species is a hominain.

One of our most famous ancestors the 3.2 million year old Australopithecus afarensis nicknamed Lucy was almost certainly bipedal.

Even older hominain fossils suggest that our ancestors adapted to walking upright almost as soon as we separated our evolutionary paths from chimpanzees. Indirect evidence suggest that some of our earliest ancestors the 5.8 million year old Ardthecus ramidus and Ardthecus kadabba we at times bipedal. One toe bone from A. kadabba dating back to about 5 million years prove definitely that the species was bipedal although there is arguements that the newer fossil should be catagorised as a different species.

Answer 2

In most instances, a human has many similarities with a gorilla in the sense that humans have evolved from the apes. But one main difference between them is that a human is capable of being rational than a gorilla. A gorilla is incapable ofÊreasoning.

Answer 3

Genetics - Humans have a 6% difference in DNA with Chimps. The usual number of 1% is based on the shear number of similar genes. The figure of 6% is derived from a new method that takes gene duplication and protein function into account. This difference in genetic makeup accounts for the major phenotypical differences between us, as well as differences in cognitive abilities (see below).

Anatomy - Starting from the top, the skulls of Chimps have a smaller brain pan and much larger jaws and canine teeth. Their rib cage is bell shaped to accommodate their high fiber diet; they eat lots of plants, fruit, nuts, and seeds. Their arms and hands are much longer, and their hands do not bend backwards at the wrist like ours do because that would inhibit the strength needed for swinging through the forest. Plus, this would lessen their ability to walk on their knuckles. Their necks, spines, and pelvises provide them with their characteristic bent at the waist, head forward posture, which compliments their partial arboreal lifestyle. Their legs are much shorter in comparison with their arms. And lastly, their feet are much different than ours, very hand-like. These are of course used for climbing trees and grasping branches.

A few other differences are that they have less grey matter in their spinal cords, which makes them stronger because they can access larger groups of muscles all at once. The muscles in their arms are anchored different than ours, which adds to their strength. They have larger ears to aid them in hearing chimp calls and predator sounds within their environment. Their nose is flatter because this is best suited for hot environments. And, finally, their hair is much darker and courser than ours.

Cognition - Although extremely intelligent in their own right, their brain is much smaller than a human brain. This means they are not quite as good at problem solving or abstract thinking. However, their short term memory is FAR superior to ours. For example, one series of Japanese experiments placed Chimps in a cage with a computer monitor. Numbers 1-9 would appear jumbled and out of order on the screen for a split second before they disappeared behind white blocks. Chimps were then supposed to tap the blocks in the correct numerical order. They were able to perform this task much, much better than even college students.

Lifestyle - Chimps live a dual terrestrial-arboreal lifestyle. They spend much of the day on the ground interacting with each other and looking for food. At night, they climb the trees and sleep in nests made from supple branches woven together. They also do not have a centralized settlement in which they stay. They travel all over their territory looking for food. Humans obviously live in settled societies.

Social structure - They live in a patriarchal society. The community is led by an alpha male who mates with numerous females within the group. All males are genetically related, while the females are not. This is because males stay within their birth group, while females usually leave for other communities. This is believed to be a natural guard against incest.

Culture - Chimps have a system of tool use and self-medication. This is very impressive in itself; however, our larger brain and capacity for language means our culture is far more advanced than their own. They obviously do not have literature, natural art--Chimps love to paint, but only at human prompting--architecture, and music.

For a good overview of the subject, see The Chimpanzees of Gombe (1986) by Jane Goodall, or see Chimpanzees of the Lakeshore (2012) by Toshisada Nishida.

Answer 4

Genetics - Humans have a 1 to 6% difference in DNA with Chimps (sources vary). This accounts for the major phenotypical differences.

Anatomy - Starting from the top, the skulls of Chimps have a smaller brain pan and much larger jaws and canine teeth. Their rib cage is bell shaped to accommodate their high fiber diet; they eat lots of plants, fruit, nuts, and seeds. Their arms and hands are much longer, and their hands do not bend backwards at the wrist like ours do because that would inhibit the strength needed for swinging through the forest. Plus, this would lessen their ability to walk on their hands. Their necks, spines, and pelvises provide them with their characteristic bent at the waist, head forward posture, which compliments their partial arboreal lifestyle. Their legs are much shorter in comparison with their arms. And lastly, their feet are much different than ours, very hand-like. These are of course used for climbing trees and grasping branches.

A few other differences are that they have less grey matter in their spinal cords, which makes them stronger because they can access larger groups of muscles all at once. The muscles in their arms are anchored different than ours, which adds to their strength. They have larger ears to aid them in hearing chimp calls and predator sounds within their environment. Their nose is flatter because this is best suited for hot environments. And, finally, their hair is much darker and courser than ours.

Cognition - Although extremely intelligent in their own right, their brain is much smaller than a human brain. This means they are not quite as good at problem solving or abstract thinking. However, their short term memory is FAR superior to ours. For example, one series of Japanese experiments placed Chimps in a cage with a computer monitor. Numbers 1-9 would appear jumbled and out of order on the screen for a split second before they disappeared behind white blocks. Chimps were then supposed to tap the blocks in the correct numerical order. They were able to perform this task much, much better than even college students.

Lifestyle - Chimps live a dual terrestrial-arboreal lifestyle. They spend much of the day on the ground interacting with each other and looking for food. At night, they climb the trees and sleep in nests made from supple branches woven together. They also do not have a centralized settlement in which they stay. They travel all over their territory looking for food. Humans obviously live in settled societies.

Social structure - They live in a patriarchal society. The community is led by an alpha male who mates with numerous females within the group. All males are genetically related, while the females are not. This is because males stay within their birth group, while females usually leave for other communities. This is believed to be a natural guard against incest.

Culture - Chimps have a system of tool use and self-medication. This is very impressive in itself; however, our larger brain and capacity for language means our culture is far more advanced than their own. They obviously do not have literature, natural art--Chimps love to paint, but only at human prompting--architecture, and music.

For a good overview of the subject, see The Chimpanzees of Gombe (1986) by Jane Goodall, or see Chimpanzees of the Lakeshore (2012) by Toshisada Nishida.

Answer 5

An ape is more stupid than us humans except their bodies are covered in hair and Kye has a apelike dick and is so damn hairy like a gay piece of poo that likes to suck willy and doesn't think there is anything wrong about it and apes are always bisexual unlike us humans they can have the same diet as humans but prefer natural things and raw meat and kye is an ape that is gay like all apes and he even had the strong will he sucked his willy off and will always be gay just like a gay piece of homosexual willy that will soon grow hair all over his body and no girl will ever have sex with him but before that happens he will get a girl pregnant next year and get expelled with her and he sees the child grow up to be an ape like him and he will be so petrified he dies and goes to burn in hell where all of his ape hair will help him burn and he will never go to heaven or back to earth again and he will burn for all eternity until his vagina becomes a massive hole in him and he will always be a virgin that got the girl pregnant and he has an IQ of probably -253 like his ape friends that sucked their willys off. Apes have 24 chromosomes whereas humans have 23.

Answer 6

hominids stood upright and had a larger brain capacity than the apes and monkeys

Answer 7

Apes and humans share 98% of the same DNA we really only have a 2% difference. and we are just more intelligent.

Answer 8

the sequence of certain nucleotides