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Long and complicated answer to this, but I'll try to make it short.

Originally there were more species of ape, however the monkeys were quicker and more rapidly adapting to their environment, and out-competed the apes. This caused apes to change their shoulder joints in order to hang beneath the branches rather than run along the top of them so that they filled a different 'niche', they also shifted their distribution range to Asia (African apes migrated back to Africa after becoming apes in Asia, rather than evolved from African monkeys). Monkeys are also smaller (therefore need less to eat, meaning less territory to travel over), live in large groups, have shorter gestation periods...

In short, the monkeys out-competed the majority of the species of ape.

Second answer

Apes are descended from monkeys. Monkeys are primarily arboreal, meaning they live their lives in the trees. Apes are part-terrestrial-part-arboreal, meaning they spend the day on the ground and the nights in the trees. Terrestrial animals require large territories in which they can roam to find food. The availability of food sources therefore affects where they can live. Only a few areas are able to support apes, while all monkeys need are plenty of trees. A good comparison would be between the myriad species of birds and the small handful of large Flightless Birds, such as Ostriches.

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12y ago

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