Ape

Ape, primate, family Pongidae, closely related to human beings. These forest dwellers, whose brain structure allows for fairly advanced reasoning, range in size from the gibbon (3 ft/0.9 m, 15 lb/6.8 kg) of southeast Asia to the gorilla (6 ft/1.8 m, 500 lb/227 kg) of Africa. The chimpanzee (5 ft/1.5 m, 150 lb/68 kg), also of Africa, is the animal most closely related to humans. It is a member of the ape family.