List of apes

This is a list of nonhuman apes of encyclopedic interest. It includes individual apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, orangutans and gibbons) who are in some way famous or notable.

Ape actors

• Bam – orangutan; played Precious on the soap opera Passions
• Bill Hutson - gorilla originating from the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, known to be brought to various pubs in the local area by its owner.
• Çarli — chimp; starred in the live-action movie The Jungle Book (1994) and in the Turkish television series Çarli before retiring to Monkey World, Dorset, UK.
• C.J. (or Manis; sources differ) — orangutan; played Clyde in the Clint Eastwood action-comedy film Every Which Way But Loose (1978).
• Clair — chimp; played Livingston in the movie comedy Delicatessen (1991).
• Evie (short for Evolution) — chimp; played robot dog Daggit in the original 1979 Battlestar Galactica television series.
• J. Fred Muggs (born 1952) — chimp; "co-host" with Dave Garroway on NBC's Today Show in the 1950s.
• Kwanza (aka Kwan) — gorilla; played "Sidney" in the romance movie Return to Me (2000) with Minnie Driver & David Duchovny. Kwan currently lives at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.
• Mowgli — chimp; guest on CNBC's Dennis Miller Live and on Monk
• Pankun — adorable chimp; featured in Japanese TV shows "Tensai! Shimura Dobutsu-en" (aka Genius! Shimura Zoo) and the TBS program "Dobutsu Kiso Tengai!" (Unbelievable Animals!) with bulldog James.
• Peggy — chimp; played Bonzo in the 1951 movie comedy Bedtime for Bonzo, co-starring Ronald Reagan. Sequel, Bonzo Goes to College
• Project X ape actors — This 1987 film, a science fiction suspense-drama about military animal experimentation, directed by Jonathan Kaplan, starred Matthew Broderick, Helen Hunt, and a multitude of ape actors:
  • Arthur — chimp; played Winston
  • Clafu — chimp; played Spike
  • Harry — chimp; played Ginger
  • Karanja — chimp; played Goliath
  • Lucy — chimp; played Razzberry
  • Luke — chimp; played Bluebeard
  • Lulu — chimp; played Ethel
  • Mousie — chimp; played New Recruit
  • Okko — chimp; played Goofy
  • Willie — chimp; played Virgil (film's animal star)
• Sam (born 1989-2010) — orangutan; played Dunston in the 1995 movie comedy Dunston Checks In; trained by Larry Madrid
• Zippie — chimp; rollerskater (U.S. television in the 1950s)
• Tango — orangutan; played Suzanne in Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001).
• Jonah - chimp; he is the twin of Jacob who both appeared as Pericles in Planet of the Apes (2001 film) and also they played the Trunk Monkey, also along with Tango in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
• Jacob- chimp; The twin of Jonah who also played Perhiclese in Planet of the Apes (2001 film).

Ape actors also appear in the movies Going Ape! (1981), Ed (1996), and MVP: Most Valuable Primate (2000).

• Mikey – chimpanzee. Manchurian Candidate (2005), Saturday Night Live (2005) World Series of Poker (2006)
• Travis the Chimp - Gained fame through parts he had in commercials (Old Navy, Coca-Cola) in the 2000s, but was shot by police following a brutal attack on a 55-year-old woman in Stamford, Connecticut.
• Tanga - chimpanzee, played Inga in the Dario Argento's horror film "Phenomena (film)" (1985)

Ape artists

• Congo — chimpanzee, abstract impressionist of the late 1950s.
• Koko (born 1971) — gorilla, widely believed to be able to communicate with humans through Sign Language.
• Michael (1973–2000) — silverback gorilla, impressionist painter who was taught American Sign Language with Koko.
• Peter, aka Pierre Brassau – chimpanzee, subject of a famous hoax through which the chimp's paintings were presented as the avant-garde works of unknown French (human) artist "Pierre Brassau."

Scientific apes

• Abang (born 1966) - orangutan; taught to use and make stone tool (cutting flake)
• Ai (born 1976) — chimpanzee; studied by scientists at Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University
• Bonnie — orangutan; began whistling (mimicking an animal caretaker), which is changing ideas about primate sound repertoires.
• Chantek (born 1977) — orangutan; involved with language research and ApeNet language-using great ape ambassador
• Clint — chimpanzee; source of DNA for Chimpanzee Genome Project, Yerkes Primate Center
• Donald — chimpanzee; source of DNA for Chimpanzee genome project
• Enos (died 1962) — chimpanzee; spacefaring, after Ham
• Frodo — chimpanzee; baby-eating "bully" who has attacked Jane Goodall and Gary Larson
• Gon — chimpanzee; source of DNA for Chimpanzee genome project
• Gua — chimpanzee; raised as a child by the Drs. Kellogg alongside their son Donald.
• Ham the Chimp (1956–1983) — chimpanzee; spacefaring, before Enos
• Kanzi (born 1980) — bonobo; involved with language research and tool invention; ApeNet language-using great ape ambassador
• Koko (born 1971) — gorilla; involved with sign language research and ApeNet language-using great ape ambassador
• Lana — chimpanzee; reared at Yerkes National Primate Research Center as part of its Language Analogue project
• Lucy — chimpanzee; cross-fostered and raised by University of Oklahoma psychotherapist
• Nim Chimpsky (1973–2000) — chimpanzee; named after linguist Noam Chomsky
• Nyota (born 1998) — bonobo; Panbanisha's son
• Oliver the chimp — chimpanzee; the so-called "Missing Link", apparent "humanzee"
• Panzee and Panbanisha — chimpanzee & bonobo; at the same research center as Kanzi
• Sarah (chimpanzee) — research primate whose cognitive skills are documented in The Mind of an Ape
• Sultan — chimpanzee; used in classic Kohler tool-use studies
• Titus (born 1974) — gorilla; an extensively observed silverback Mountain Gorilla
• Washoe (1965–2007) — chimpanzee; pioneer ape of hand-signing research

Zoo apes

• Ah Meng (circa 18 June 1960 — 8 February 2008) — female Sumatran orangutan and a tourism icon of Singapore.
• Bushman — gorilla famous from Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. Died in 1951, but brought over 100 million visitors, can now be seen at Chicago's Field Museum.
• Bill (1946–2007) — long-lived chimpanzee who resided at Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka, California for over fifty years.
• Binti Jua — gorilla who saved a human boy in 1996.
• Bobo (1951–1968) – western lowland gorilla who lived in the Lowman family home in Anacortes, Washington from his infancy until 1953 and then Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle until his death.
• Bokito (born 1996) — silverback gorilla that escaped the Blijdorp Zoo on May 18, 2007 and injured a woman.
• Charles (born 1972) — A wild born silverback western lowland gorilla residing at the Toronto Zoo since 1974 renowned for his artwork .
• Charlie the Chimp (1958–2010) — chimpanzee in a South African Zoo who smoked and was able to walk upright.
• Colo (born 1956) — first gorilla born in captivity.
• Copito de Nieve aka "Snowflake" (1964–2003) — only albino gorilla known to have existed; most famous resident of the Barcelona Zoo.
• Fifi — Matriarch of the chimpanzees at Sydney's Taronga Zoo, died on July 19, 2007 at age 60
• Guy the Gorilla (1946–1978) – was a famous gorilla in London Zoo.
• Jabari – A 300 lb. gorilla at the Dallas Zoo who received national attention when, on Mar. 18, 2004, he escaped and attacked four people including a toddler during a 40 minute rampage inside the jungle exhibit before being shot to death by police. Son of Charles the Gorilla.
• Jambo (1961–1992) — gorilla who cared for a boy who fell into his enclosure.
• Jenny (1953–2008) — western lowland gorilla who lived at the Dallas Zoo from 1957 until her death and was the oldest gorilla in captivity at the time of her death.
• Jumoke (1989—2008) — western lowland gorilla and the granddaughter of Colo.
• Ken Allen (1971–2000) — Bornean orangutan at the San Diego Zoo known for his escape artistry.
• Massa (1930–1984) — silverback, the second longest-lived gorilla ever recorded, and longest-lived male in captivity, died at age 54.
• Max (1971–2004) — gorilla in the Johannesburg Zoo who famously apprehended a criminal in 1997, getting shot twice in the process.
• Samson (1949-1981) — for many years the face of the Milwaukee County Zoo; one of the largest silverback gorillas on record, tipping the scales at 652 lbs in 1973.
• Santino, a male chimpanzee at Furuvik zoo in Sweden. Notable for having the cognitive skills for forward planning (calmly collecting stones, and later throwing them at visitors).
• Sebastian — former resident of the animal orphanage near Nairobi National Park, Kenya. Famous for smoking and not requiring a cage.
• Temara (born 1993) – the first zoo-reared female Sumatran orangutan released into Bukit Tigapuluh National Park by Perth Zoo in 2006.
• Willie B. (1959–2000) — silverback gorilla kept in isolation for 27 years, became head of a troop and father of five.
• Yeroen — chimpanzee at the Arnhem Zoo, star of de Waal's "Chimpanzee Politics".

Circus apes

• Gargantua (1929–1949) — acid-scarred gorilla captured in the wild who performed in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
• Toto (1931–1968) — Gargantua's would-be mate

Ape politicians

• Macaco Tião — a chimpanzee who had the habit of throwing excrement at visitors (including several politicians) to the Rio de Janeiro Zoo. A satirical newspaper ran his candidature for Rio de Janeiro Mayor in 1988, and he got 9.5% of the votes, just behind Marcello Alencar and César Maia.

Pet apes

• Bubbles the chimpanzee — pet of entertainer Michael Jackson
• Scatter the chimpanzee — pet of entertainer Elvis Presley

See also

• List of notable monkeys
• List of fictional apes
• List of fictional monkeys
• Monkeys in space