::SCOPE::

Activity: Ape Movement

Talia hanging around.

On SCOPE's Apes episode, you saw Talia trying to work out how what makes us different from the other apes.

What you need

yourself
monkey (or Ape) bars

Things to try

Hanging by one arm
Hanging by your legs
Hanging by one leg
Hanging by just your feet!?
Swinging from place to place with your arms
Talking to your friends.

What's happening?

Chances are you found numbers 1, 3 and 5 challenging, and number 4 almost downright impossible.

Humans and other Apes, when given the opportunity to play, have pretty obvious similarities. We're both social beings and we both like to challenge our bodies.

Neither of us have tails but we both have opposable thumbs. This means that our thumbs are sufficiently separate from the other fingers to allow them to face and touch each other.

Excellent for the ape on the move.

But humans and the other apes do have their differences. Apes tend to have longer more narrow hands than humans. All apes will tell you - a narrow hand is extremely useful when you spend most of your time grasping branches and swinging about.

Apes also have longer feet with short big toes that can be used like hooks. It really gives these apes the climbing and hanging upside edge.

Back up the body, humans have arms that are relatively short and weak; they are not designed for long term hanging around. Whereas apes have long, strong arms that are often longer than their bodies! This physiological combination spells for some awesome arboreal action. Apes are masters of brachiation - swinging from tree to tree - their primary mode of locomotion. Some apes like gibbons have ball and socket joints in their wrists, allowing them a far greater range of movement than we could ever hope to achieve.

But there is one very important thing that we humans can do, that the other apes can't. And that is talk! They can make sounds, but apes' tongues are simply not as flexible as ours and their lips are not able to form the shapes needed to enunciate words.