APE (A. S. apa, Ger. Affe), in modern usage, a term describing an Old-World tailless monkey, such as the gorilla, orang-utan, chim panzee or gibbon, but originally an exact syn onym for monkey and applied to any quadru manous animal except the lemurs. For exam ples of this older usage see BABOON; MACAQUE; MONKEYS. In its modern sense it applies par ticularly to the family Simiidce, or anthropoid apes, found in the forests of the equatorial regions of the Old World and called poido on account of their great resemblance to man. This likeness is especially marked in young individuals before the face has attained its full brutality of expression, the canine teeth their great size, and the skull its final thickening and growth into crests and ridges. Except for the shape of the jaw (which, in stead of being curved, comes to a noticeable angle on each side with a canine tooth at the apex of each angle) and for the development of the skull already mentioned, as well as for the relative length of the arms and shortness of the legs and the fact that the great toe is short and more or less opposable to the other fingers, an ape's skeleton is practically the same as man's though larger and heavier in proportion to the body and lacking certain curvatures of the spine which adapt the human frame to ease in an erect position. The brain case and the brain itself are much smaller than in man, yet similar in development and the brain is much convoluted. The teeth are
of the same number as man's and of like character. In certain divergences of structure exhibited between the inferior families of monkeys and man, the ape resembles man and differs from the monkeys.
The gibbons (noticeable for standing erect with less difficulty than any other apes), the chimpanzee (which has the largest brain), the gorilla, and the orang-utang, together with sev eral extinct and fossil species, make up the anthropoid apes. All are clothed with hair on all parts of the body except the face and palms; they have no cheek-pouches, no tail and either no trace or but very slight traces of the naked spots or callosities seen upon the buttocks of the lower apes. All are as large or larger than man and all can walk upright, though they are more at ease in climbing than in walking. When on the ground they make their way slowly sometimes closing the hands in order to walic on the knuckles instead of the palm and either similarly closing the foot or walking on its side. Their food is mainly vegetable, yet their great strength, their in telligence and their savage nature place them the most dangerous of wild animals.
See CHIMPANZEE; GIBBON; GORILLA; ORANG UTAN ; PITHECANTHROPUS.