Talk:Ape
From Academic Kids
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Moved from article:
Since the concept includes some quite different animals, most of the information should be on the individual pages. But perhaps some common information could go here. Perhaps something about conservation issues? (Most ape species are rare or endangered.)
What about the new mystery ape that has recently been photographed, captured and had its mitochondrial DNA analyzed? Seems to be a third species of chimp; a few people have suggested it may be descended from a wierd Gorilla-chimp hybrid. It seems to be a previously unknown species of chimp. This topic should be discussed in our articles on Ape, Chimpanzee and Cryptozoology. (Of course, the text should not be identical in each article.) RK 04:20, 12 Aug 2003 (UTC)
- The Bondo Mystery Ape (http://karlammann.com/bondo.html)
- CNN article: Seeking answers to big 'mystery ape' (http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/08/08/coolsc.mysteryape/)
- Leaky Foundation intro on Elusive African Apes: Giant Chimps or New Species? (http://www.leakeyfoundation.org/newsandevents/n4_x.jsp?id=3343)
- National Geographic news: Elusive African Apes: Giant Chimps or New Species? (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/04/0414_030314_strangeape.html)
I have had a go at the Ape page. It was a bit of a muddle. The real problem is that the concept of "ape" has drifted over the centuries, from any tailless nonhuman primate to its current meaning of a member of one of two particular families. However even now primate taxonomy is even more of a mess than most orders, so it is hard to get consistent terminology, and authorities do not agree on what the names of those families should be, or whether they should be in a superfamily. I've gone for a version that seems simple to grasp. There did seem to me to be one error in the article as I found it, though: I don't think there's any serious usage of "ape" that doesn't include the hylobatids.
Sorry, that last comment came from seglea at 04:55 UTC 031105 - I thought the signature, date, time got added automatically.
Try yet again! it came from seglea
when exactly did humans become apes? i'd like a year.
- That depends on if you are asking when humans genetically became apes (which would be we've always been apes), or when it was first postulated that the other ape species and humans were descended from a common extinct ape ancestor (which would be about when Charles Darwin wrote Origin of the Species), or when it became a more common understanding than just a scientific one. - UtherSRG 18:24, Feb 17, 2005 (UTC)
"True apes"
"Except for gorillas and Humans, all true apes are agile climbers of trees."
What are "true apes"? Brianjd | Why restrict HTML? | 08:02, 2005 Apr 23 (UTC)
- Took me a bit to figure it out... it's because there are primate species with "ape" in the name which aren't apes, such as the Barbary Ape. I'll see what I can do to make this clearer. - UtherSRG 15:21, Apr 23, 2005 (UTC)
