By: Tenno Maulana Hendra (Volunteer Panda Mobile)

"Brother, what's the difference between monkeys and apes?" I often hear this question from kindergarten or elementary school students when we are doing environmental education with WWF-Indonesia's Panda Mobile. The question usually arises when we introduce orangutans to them. We, as Panda Mobile volunteers, always explain in detail but in a light-hearted manner or with props such as pictures, movies, or games.

In simple terms, apes and monkeys can be distinguished by their tails. While monkeys have tails that look long, apes do not. Physically, apes and monkeys also have differences, in addition to the differences found in the tail. Some of these differences are in their movement and brain volume. When moving, apes have arms that tend to be longer and can walk using both legs. Apes also tend to live in trees (arboreal), while monkeys tend to walk using both feet and hands and live semi-terrestrial (living in trees and on land) or terrestrial (living on land). Apes have a larger brain volume than monkeys. "Well, orangutans are a type of great ape," we explained while showing orangutan puppets to the students.

"What's the difference between apes and gibbon?" another question came from the curious children. non-human primate that belongs to the great ape group in Indonesia is the Pongidae (orangutan). There are two types of orangutans in Indonesia, the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) and the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). While the gibbon is a macaque or often referred to as a gibbon. Hylobatidae), which at first glance is a white ape, and is endemic to Java.

Primates that are said to be monkeys, for example, are the Cercopithecidae, which is divided into two subtribes, the Colobinae (leaf monkeys) and Cercopithecinae. Nasalis larvatus) or Dutch monkey. It is said to be a leaf monkey because its main food is leaves (foliovore). Whereas Cercopithecinae feeds mainly on fruit (frugivore) although it tends to eat everything in the case of monkeys already living in tourism areas. An example of the Cercopithecinae is the long-tailed monkey (Macaca fascicularis) which is found in many places, such as Muara Angke, North Jakarta.

The students smiled happily as they learned about the differences between monkeys and apes. We volunteers were also happy to share this information with the next generation of conservationists. Hopefully, they will care more and help preserve these animals.