What makes a chimp an ape?

Question

Why do so many people call them monkeys?

Answer 1

Ape, any of 13 species of large, highly intelligent primates, including chimpanzees, gorillas, gibbons, and orangutans. Apes are sometimes confused with monkeys, but unlike their smaller primate counterparts, apes do not have tails and their arms are usually longer than their legs.

People call them monkeys because they're smaller and look more like monkeys than some of the other apes do.

Answer 2

People call chimps monkeys because they are not informed about the scientific classification of animals, and because they tend to lump vaguely similar things together. Monkeys, apes, and humans are all primates. Monkeys are simian primates, have tails and are small. Apes are in two families, hylobatidae and hominidae, and this latter group includes chimps, gorillas, organgutans, and humans.

Apes don't have tails, they are larger, they have different kinds of teeth, and there are other structural and behavioral differences also. So they are not just "bigger monkeys."

Anti-evolutionists like to say things such as, "I refuse to believe that humans are descended from monkeys." Well, good for them, because humans did not descend from monkeys - evolution is not descent, and humans and apes evolved out of a population of a common ancestor.

Answer 3

the difference between an ape and a monkey is that monkeys have tails and apes don't. However, most people don't know that, so they think it's about the size of the animal and say chimps are monkeys.

Answer 4

Because chimp and ape are types of monkeys so they lump them together as one.

Answer 5

Apes are the members of the Hominoidea super family of primates, which includes humans. There are two families of hominoids:

* the Hylobatidae consists of 4 genera and 12 species of gibbons, collectively known as the "lesser apes"
* the Hominidae consisting of gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and humans, collectively known as the "great apes".

All others, including a few other primates that have the word "ape" in their common names, but that are not regarded as true apes, are monkeys.

Answer 6

Apes do not have tails, Monkeys do. People call them monkeys because they are silly.

Answer 7

I think people think anything small is a monkey, and anything big is an ape.

Monkeys are medium-sized primates (and their definition says "excluding anthropoid apes."

Chimpanzees are anthropoid apes. (Anthropoid means "resembling a human," or, confusingly enough "resembling an ape.") I would think the main difference between apes and monkeys is the lack of a tail.

Answer 8

Because they look like monkeys? Chimps, monkeys, orangutans, gorillas, humans--same thing.

Answer 9

You trying to make a monkey out of me?

Answer 10

Opposible thumbs, the ability to use tools (some chimps will pick up sticks and insert them into ant hills yo extract ants) and the ability to learn.

Monkeys have tails and I don't believe chimps do.