Tool use is well documented among chimps, typically in food acquisition. Males are slightly larger than females with males weighing about 43 kg and females about 34 kg (Smith and Jungers, 1997).Ĭhimpanzees eat a wide variety of food including, fruits, nuts, leaves, insects, and smaller bodied mammals (Fleagle, 1999). Chimpanzees exhibit a moderate degree of sexual dimorphism. Social groups are based in male philopatry, meaning that males remain in their natal group, while females migrate to new communities (Fleagle, 1999). In fission-fusion societies, group composition is constantly in flux and is typically dependent upon resource availability. Chimpanzees are most commonly depicted as living in rainforests however, several populations live in woodlands and dry savannahs where tree are sparse (Fleagle, 1999).Ĭhimpanzees live in multi-male multi-female groups that are often defined as fission-fusion. In addition to having a wide distribution across the continent, chimpanzees live in diverse habitats. The geographical distribution of chimpanzees ranges across Sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal in the west to Tanzania in the east. Therefore, although the last common ancestor between humans and African apes is believed to exist between five and six million years ago, there is no consensus as to what this common ancestor would have looked like (Fleagle, 1999 Hartwig, 2002). Additionally, no fossil specimens from more recent epochs exhibit derived traits that can be linked to the African apes. The Miocene apes do not have derived morphology that is shared with the African apes and therefore none of the Miocene specimens can be categorized as ancestral to the African ape lineage. The fossil record indicates that African homonoids arrived in Europe during the Miocene between 16 and 17 million years ago, followed by a diversification of apes across Europe and Western Asia (Hartwig, 2002). Additionally, fossil apes have been discovered throughout Europe, distributed between the French and Spanish Pyrenees to the Republic of Georgia. Although the best record of proconsulids is found in Africa, specimens have also been found in Asia, suggesting that proconsulids migrated to Asia in the early Miocene (Fleagle 1999). The first radiation of fossil apes, the proconsulids, occurred in Africa from the late Oligocene to the middle Miocene. Finally, unlike all other primates, apes lack a tail (Fleagle, 1999).Īlthough there are only five extant ape genera, several ape genera have been identified in the fossil record. Apes also have a broad, short thorax, as opposed to the long, narrow thorax found in monkeys. These anatomical features enable apes to have a wide range of overhead movement and aid in suspensory locomotion. In addition to having long forelimbs, apes have a dorsally positioned scapula and globular humeral head. Relatively long forelimbs are attributed to the highly suspensory behavior of all non-human apes. First, apes typically have longer forelimbs than hindlimbs, the only exception to this trend being humans. Apes are anatomically distinct from monkeys in several ways. Hominoidea includes gibbons and siamangs (Hylobatidae), commonly referred to as the lesser apes, and orangutans ( Ponginae), gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans ( Homininae), often referred to as the great apes (Hartwig, 2002). Chimpanzees and all other nonhuman primates have only the working version in other words, they’re on the powerful, “sprinter” end of the spectrum.Chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes) are apes and belong to Hominoidea. People with two working versions of this gene are overrepresented among elite sprinters while those with the nonworking version are overrepresented among endurance runners. (Puny jaws have marked our lineage for as least 2 million years.) Many people have also lost another muscle-related gene called ACTN3. One gene, for example, called MYH16, contributes to the development of large jaw muscles in other apes. In the past few years, geneticists have identified the loci for some of these anatomical differences. A chimpanzee’s skeletal muscle has longer fibers than the human equivalent and can generate twice the work output over a wider range of motion. But a more important factor seems to be the structure of the muscles themselves. How did we get to be the weaklings of the primate order? Our overall body architecture makes a difference: Even though chimpanzees weigh less than humans, more of their mass is concentrated in their powerful arms. But it is a fact that chimpanzees and other apes are stronger than humans. So the figures quoted by primate experts are a little exaggerated.
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