It is a well-known fact that we, humans, and apes have originated from common ancestors, millions of years ago. As a result of evolution, several differences in our common ancestral behavioral aspects occurred. It was mostly influenced by nature, which ultimately led to the complete segregation of our common ancestors to specifically humans and apes. Apes are our closest living relatives since anatomically, we are almost similar. We belong to the category of more evolved apes along with chimpanzees, orang-utans, and gorillas. We are just modified ones. There is a separate category of lesser apes including gibbons and siamangs.It does not mean that we have any similarity with monkeys, despite both being primates. The major difference between monkeys and apes (along with humans) is that monkeys have tails, but apes do not.

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Apes

Humanity's closest living relatives are Apes. In fact, humans share about 98% of their DNA with chimpanzees, and thus, people are actually apes. The non-human types of apes are generally divided into two groups: Great Apes- Orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas and lesser apes siamangs, and gibbons.

Humans

The species that all other living human beings on this planet belong to is Homo Sapiens. Homo Sapiens evolved in Africa during the time of dramatic climate change around 300,000 years ago. Like early humans that were living at this time,they gathered and hunted for food and evolved behaviors that helped them to respond to the challenges of survival in unstable environments.

Difference between Apes and Humans

There are various differences between apes and humans and some of these are very visible. The differences between apes and humans are tabulated as follows.

Apes	Humans
The cranial capacity of the Apes ranges from 400cc-600cc.	Humans have an average cranial capacity of around 1400cc-1500cc.
Apps generally have a slanting forehead and a flat nose.	Humans have a high forehead and an elevated nose.
They do not have a chin.	They have a chin which is very much noticeable.
Apps have heavy and protruded eyebrow ridges.	Humans have inconspicuous eyebrow ridges.
Diastema ( the gap between upper and incisors) can be seen in most apesm	Diastema is not present in humans.
Apes have longer arms as compared to their legs which can reach below knees.	Humans have shorter arms as compared to their legs which are not long enough to reach their knees
Having a c shaped spine is common in apes.	Having an s-shaped spine is common in humans.
Apes have opposable hallux (great toes) and they can move it laterally.	Humans have non- opposable hallux and Lateral movement is restricted.
Apes do not have various languages like human beings.	Humans have numerous languages to communicate among themselves.
Quadrupedal locomotion (moving with both legs and hands) is common in Apes.	Bipedal locomotion (moving with the help of only two legs) is common in humans.
There are very few if you can make simple tools and can employ them.	Humans can make tools of Greater complexity and can employ them.
Apes cannot walk upright.	Humans can walk upright.
The volume of the brain is less with a small cranium.	The volume of the brain is comparatively more in humans and they have a big cranium.
Apes have large Jaws.	Humans have small Jaws.
Apps have a narrow pelvic girdle.	Humans have broad and flattened pelvic girdles.
Apes have a V-shaped dental arch.	Humans have a Crescent-shaped dental arch.

Apes	Humans
Leads chiefly arboreal life	Leads terrestrial life
Walks semi-erect on outer edges of feet and knuckles of hand	Works fully erect on the soles of the feet
Fore Limbs are comparatively longer than the Hind Limbs	Hind Limbs are more powerful and developed than the four Limbs
Head is balanced on heavy shoulders and is buried	Head erect and balanced on the neck
Foramen and Magnum in their heads is directed backward	Foramen and Magnum in their head is directed downwards
Neck muscles are attached to the back of the brain	Neck muscles are basically attached below the brain box
Face protruding and brow ridges prominent	Face is somewhat flat and brow ridges inconspicuous
Jaw strong without well-marked chain	Jaw small with the prominent chin
Anterior premolar in lower jaw strong and prominent	Anterior premolar in the lower jaw is small
Body covered with long and coarse hair	Body covered with short and sparse hair

Humans and apes, along with their differences, share some similarities too. The similarities are discussed below.

Similarities between Apes and Humans

The similarities between apes and humans are as follows.

Apes have bones and muscles similar to humans. Their nervous system works in the same manner as it does in humans.
Humans and apes have the same number of fingers and toes.
The structure of the human female uterus is somewhat similar to a female ape.
Both humans and apes have an almost similar lifespan.
Opposable thumbs are something that humans and apes, both of them have in common.
Although not identical, apes have blood types similar to the human ABO blood group system.
Both female apes and female humans have regular menstrual cycles.

Therefore, these are some of the similarities between apes and humans.

Did you Know?

Chimpanzees share about 98.6% of our DNA. Genetically, they are closer to us than any other primates. You will be surprised to know that they too have emotions, intelligence, and sentiments like us. However, the expansion of the neocortex which happened during primate evolution, contributed a higher cognitive capacity to humans as compared to the other great apes, specifically the chimpanzees. However, assuming that humans did not evolve from chimpanzees would be incorrect. During evolution, while one of the ancestral lines evolved to become the modern chimpanzees, the other line evolved into the form of early humans and eventually, resulted in Homo sapiens, which is the present us. That is why we share somewhat similar physical features due to common ancestry.

Conclusion

The theory of Man’s evolution from Apes is pretty fascinating. It’s almost like reading a novel that takes you back and forth in time. Survival of the fittest is a tried and trusted phenomenon. Well, Darwin’s theory of Evolution got nothing on Apes. Read it through for a more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

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FAQs on Difference Between Ape and Man

1. What are apes? How many categories of apes are there?

Apes are tailless primates who belong to the superfamily Hominoidea, which further divides into the family Hylobatidae which comprises gibbons, and the family Hominidae which includes chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas, and human beings. They are found in the tropical forests of Africa and Southeast Asia.

There are mainly two categories of apes and they are discussed as follows.

Great Apes- As mentioned earlier, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans belong to the category of great apes. They are large and have human-like features. They can do abstract reasoning and learn quasi-linguistic communication, only when taught by humans. They have the capability of recognizing themselves when they see a mirror, which other organisms cannot easily do.

Lesser Apes- Gibbons, and siamangs belong to the category of lesser apes. They are found in the subtropical and tropical rainforest of eastern Bangladesh, Northeast India, southern China, and Indonesia. They are comparatively smaller than great apes in terms of size.

2. What is the difference between monkeys and apes?

It is common for people to get confused between a monkey and an ape because of their almost similar physical appearance. There is no doubt that both of them are primates and are a part of the same primate suborder, as had been proved years ago.

However, they are not the same. Monkeys possess a tail, while apes do not. Also, monkeys do not have an appendix, but apes do have an appendix. In addition, since apes are closely related to humans, they exhibit human-like behaviour, unlike monkeys.

3. Do chimps have five fingers?

Chimp hands are much narrower and longer . The thumb just meets up with the palm as it is not long, while the chimp's other four fingers extend upward. As a result orangutans and chimps do not have thumbs as we humans do. Our more primitive hand structure has been inherited by the gorillas. Like human hands, gorillas hands have five fingers which includes an opposable thumb. Gorilla's feet are similar to humans.

4. When did gorillas and humans diverge?

In trying to figure out when apes and humans diverse researchers have had to rely on the fossil evidences .The research indicates that chimps and humans likely diverged for some about eight to nine million years ago while the divergence of gorillas that led to both chimps and humans came approximately nineteen to twenty million years ago. To put the numbers in perspective Neanderthals and humans split a half to three quarters of a million years ago.

5. Why did ultimately humans stop evolving?

Humans now adapt to their environment via cultural evolution and not biological evolution and this is the reason why human evolution has stopped. Humans are no exception, as all organisms adapt to their environment. Culture predominantly defines the human environment so cultural evolution has ultimately led to adaptive evolution in humans.

6. From there did humans originate?

The evolution of humans is a lengthy process of change by which people transformed and originated from apelike ancestors. Scientific research and evidence show that the behavioural and physical traits shared by all people evolved over a period of nearly about seven million years ago and originated from apelike ancestors. Humans evolved in Africa and much of the human evolution occurred on that continent itself . The fossil evidence of early humans who lived between 6 to 2 million years ago also comes from Africa.