Great Apes Of The World - Primates-SG

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Great Apes Of The World

The great apes are more diverse – and more threatened – than many of us ever expected. We recognize 14 kinds of great ape: four subspecies of gorillas, four chimpanzee subspecies and the singular bonobo, all found in Africa, plus five kinds of orangutans known from tropical Asia. Altogether the gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobo occur in 21 African nations; of the orangutans, two species occur in northernmost Sumatra, and the other (divided into three subspecies) survives on the island of Borneo.

Along with all other primates, the great apes are included on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, a comprehensive survey of threats to our world’s biodiversity. The Red List provides conservation assessments for a tremendous array of threatened species – and it shows that the great apes are in near-universal decline. Cross River gorillas, western lowland gorillas, western chimpanzees, and all orangutans are listed as Critically Endangered. Only the mountain gorillas are not declining in number.

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African Great ApesFamily Hominidae

BonoboPan paniscus

 Democratic Republic of Congo Endangered

Central ChimpanzeePan troglodytes troglodytes

 Angola, Cameroon,Central African Republic,Democratic Republic of Congo,Equatorial Guinea, Gabon,Republic of Congo Endangered

Eastern ChimpanzeePan troglodytes schweinfurthii

 Burundi, Central African Republic,Democratic Republic of Congo,Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania,Uganda Endangered

Nigeria-Cameroon ChimpanzeePan troglodytes ellioti

 Cameroon, Nigeria Endangered

Western ChimpanzeePan troglodytes verus

 Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone(possibly extinct in Benin and Burkina Faso; extinct in Togo) Critically Endangered

Cross River GorillaGorilla gorilla diehli

 Cameroon, Nigeria Critically Endangered

Grauer's GorillaGorilla beringei graueri

 Democratic Republic of Congo Critically Endangered

Mountain GorillaGorilla beringei beringei

 Democratic Republic of Congo,Rwanda, Uganda Endangered

Western Lowland GorillaGorilla gorilla gorilla

 Angola, Cameroon,Central African Republic,Equatorial Guinea, Gabon,Republic of Congo Critically Endangered

Asian Great ApesFamily Pongidae

Sumatran OrangutanPongo abelii

 Indonesia (Sumatra) Critically Endangered

Northeast Bornean OrangutanPongo pygmaeus morio

 Indonesia, Malaysia Critically Endangered

Northwest Bornean OrangutanPongo pygmaeus pygmaeus

 Indonesia, Malaysia Critically Endangered

Southwest Bornean OrangutanPongo pygmaeus wurmbii

 Indonesia (Borneo) Critically Endangered

Tapanuli OrangutanPongo tapanuliensis

 Indonesia (Sumatra) Critically Endangered

Note:These tables were compiled by Anthony Rylands, whose original summary included additional comments on great ape taxonomy.

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