Pongids

The pongids are the four great apes: orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee, and bonobo. Rigorous primate-behavior field research during the last fifty years has clearly demonstrated that these apes are closer to the human species than Thomas Huxley, Ernst Haeckel, or even Charles Darwin had anticipated in the nineteenth century. Today, scientific evidence, ranging from biochemistry and genetics to morphology and psychology, confirms those striking similarities between these wild pongids and the human species in terms of organic evolution.

The wild orangutan or “man of the woods” (Pongo pygmaeus) is the only great ape of Asia; like the two lesser apes or hylobates (gibbon and siamang), this elusive pongid now faces extinction. This rare but fascinating red ape of Indonesia is found only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Most orangutans live in the upper tropical rain-forest canopy; adult females and juveniles swing among the vines and creepers of this arboreal world, while huge adult males may leisurely forage on the damp jungle floor below.

The wild mountain gorilla of central East Africa (Gorilla gorilla beringei) is the largest of the four great apes. It is an introverted but intelligent and powerful pongid. In remote highlands, scattered groups of gorillas freely roam through the lush, wet forests. A social unit is dominated by the magnificent adult silverback male: Such a mature gorilla may reach a height of six feet and weigh up to 600 pounds. Yet, this gentle giant of the primate world is shy and acts somewhat like a recluse.

The gorilla and chimpanzee (as well as the bonobo) are found in Africa. Their striking similarities to the human animal led Darwin to write that the origin and early evolution of humankind had taken place on the sōcalled “Dark Continent,” a hypothesis that is now supported by both molecular and paleontological evidence. The common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is the most curious, intelligent, and extroverted of the four pongids inhabiting the earth today. In the forests and on the woodlands, the African chimpanzees generally exhibit a free-ranging and harmonious existence. Whether in the trees or on the ground, small groups of these apes spend much time searching for food when not playing, grooming, or merely resting in their nests.

The bonobo (Pan paniscus) also inhabits Central Africa, but it has remained elusive to anthropologists until the last twenty years. Both in terms of biology and behavior, it remarkably resembles the human species. Unfortunately, this pongid is also an endangered species threatened with extinction. [Page 1892]

Source: © Lynn Kilgore.

Each of the four great apes has no tail, and is both larger and more intelligent than any monkey. The pongid adult dental formula is2–1–2–3 (also shared by all of the Old World monkeys and humankind). With arms longer than their legs, these apes brachiate through the trees but usually take a quadruped position when terrestrial. Their thumbs and big toes, both opposable, are favorable adaptations for an arboreal life. However, because of their large size, adult great apes spend considerable time on the ground during the day.

Today, these four wild pongids need to be both saved by and protected from the human species, the most dangerous animal of all. To do so, since the middle of the twentieth century, there has been a concerted effort by primatologists to study the great apes in their natural habitats. Such close-range, long-term pongid research supplements those scientific findings as a result of research in laboratories and zoos.

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