Ape years ago (Mya) the clades diverged into newer clades. The lesser apes are the gibbon family, Hylobatidae, of sixteen species; all are native to Asia. Their major differentiating characteristic is their long arms, which they use to brachiate through trees. Their wrists are ball and socket joints as an evolutionary adaptation to their arboreal lifestyle. Generally smaller than the African apes, the largest gibbon, the siamang, weighs up to ; in comparison, the smallest "great ape", the bonobo, is . Formerly, all the great apes except humans were classified as the family Pongidae, which conveniently provided for separating the human
The Ape (1940 film) ape; the notion of fluid taken from the spine to cure a crippled girl was all Siodmak's. Filming began August 6, 1940, the final feature in Boris Karloff's six-picture contract with Monogram, returning only once for "Frankenstein 1970" (1958). Filming took a week. "The Ape" was filmed in the city of Newhall, Santa Clarita, California. The "Los Angeles Times" called the film "engrossing... [Karloff] shows himself the skilled player of slightly eerie but really kindly character roles for which he is famous." According to an article for the British Film Institute: Karloff made his fair share of ludicrous B pictures.