How to Use great ape in a Sentence

great ape

noun
Definition of great apenext
  • Read Next World Tiny great ape — from 11 million years ago — found in Germany clay pit.
    — Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 12 June 2024
  • Most of the great apes in the study lived in Gabon and the Republic of the Congo.
    — Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 26 Apr. 2018
  • And this is the most endangered great ape in the world.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 23 May 2018
  • That brings to eight the number of great ape species alive today.
    — Karen Kaplan, latimes.com, 3 Nov. 2017
  • The teeth were compared with those of modern great apes.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 15 July 2019
  • Disease ecologists warned that the virus might spread to the great apes.
    — Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 25 May 2020
  • What would turn the descendants of a wolf and a great ape into best friends?
    — Alison Gopnik, WSJ, 2 Mar. 2023
  • The great ape’s immense strength is in full force as the man is unable to break free, and is pulled closer to the cage.
    — Lawrence Richard, Fox News, 8 June 2022
  • To get around this, the St. Louis Zoo built special gutters where the great apes slept, which would route the urine outside.
    — Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 15 Dec. 2017
  • Goodall’s work opened the world’s eyes to our closest great ape relatives.
    — Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Jan. 2020
  • The great ape’s immense strength is showcased as the man is unable to break free and keeps getting pulled closer to the cage.
    — Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY, 8 June 2022
  • Humans share 99 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees and 97 percent with the great apes.
    — Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 May 2024
  • The western lowland gorilla, one of four subspecies of the great ape.
    — NBC News, 26 Jan. 2022
  • In some key ways, the structure of an Australopithecine’s brain looked a lot like that of modern great apes.
    — Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 14 May 2018
  • As of this week, these orangutans are being recognized as a distinct species of great ape.
    — Karen Kaplan, latimes.com, 3 Nov. 2017
  • Fiona, gorillas and great apes – missed the company, too.
    — Sarah Haselhorst, Cincinnati.com, 10 June 2020
  • The great ape appeared to be trying to help the warden, who was standing in a muddy, flowing river.
    — Emma Reynolds, CNN, 7 Feb. 2020
  • Conservationists hope the find—the first new species of great ape to be discovered since the bonobo in 1929—will help raise awareness of the plight of orangutans.
    — Erik Stokstad, Science | AAAS, 2 Nov. 2017
  • As the largest great ape sanctuary in the world, our costs are practically endless.
    — Kelli Bender, PEOPLE.com, 1 Aug. 2019
  • From Grins to Smiles The great apes go a step further: Their grin, although still a nervous signal, is more positive.
    — Frans De Waal, Discover Magazine, 31 May 2019
  • Powell also points to a lack of good data on great apes, like gorillas and orangutans, in the data set.
    — Cathleen O'Grady, Ars Technica, 23 Aug. 2018
  • Unlike parrots, elephants and Hoover the harbor seal, the great apes are not adept at mimicking sounds or even the basics of human speech.
    — Quanta Magazine, 22 Mar. 2016
  • Kühl’s local observations turn out to apply across most of Africa’s great ape range.
    — Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, 17 Nov. 2021
  • The researchers spent a massive amount of time observing and recording the great apes in the wild – some 3,800 hours in Borneo and Sumatra within range of the animals.
    — Matt Hrodey, Discover Magazine, 29 June 2023
  • Human demand for bush meat, land, and palm oil is driving every species of African and Asian great ape into oblivion.
    — Steven M. Wise, Foreign Affairs, 11 July 2016
  • Orangutans would also pull on each other’s hair, which Laumer suggests is because their hair tends to be longer than the other great ape species.
    — Jack Guy, CNN, 14 Feb. 2024
  • The great apes don’t seem to vocally, but might use a gestural equivalent.
    — Ed Yong, The Atlantic, 26 June 2023
  • For research published today in the journal Primates, researchers watched 40 videos of great apes spinning around just to get dizzy.
    — Sara Kiley Watson, Popular Science, 14 Mar. 2023
  • While monkeys were unable to think too far into the future, great apes like chimps, bonobos and orangutans showed the ability to plan.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 14 July 2017
  • While most animals did not pass Gallup's test, some did, including dolphins, great apes (gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos), and magpies.
    — David Faris, Newsweek, 10 July 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'great ape.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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