Humans are classified as a great ape because we share a common ancestor with other apes shown through the fossil record as well as DNA matching (something Darwin did not have, but has explicitly confirmed his theories).
The family Hominidae consisting of
- chimpanzees
- bonobos
- gorillas
- humans
- orangutans
Bonobos are very gentile apes and are our distance cousins. We could learn a lot from them. However, humans are quite violent which is why we are predominate. We most likely took out our even closer relatives such as the Neanderthal humans. If we weren't so violent we might know how non-unique we truly are. Quite telling. Humans have shown they don't like others that are even slightly different even when only separated by skin color and of course belief systems. Because of our ravaging of the earth the Bonobos are endangered and for that matter all our cousin apes are rare or endangered. The chief threat is loss of tropical rainforest habitat, though some populations are further imperiled by hunting for bushmeat. An interesting aside is Bonobos are the only animals beside humans that mate missionary style.
Check out this amazing video.
Another interesting video on self-recognition in the great apes.
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