Apes are long armed, tailless primates. They are native to Africa and South-East Asia, and primarily inhabit jungles. Much of their appearance and mannerisms are reminiscent of that of humans, but to mistake an ape for a hairy, odd looking man or woman neglects the unique and often bizarre aspects of their lives. Their expressions and reactions are often suprizingly different, and can lead to painful mistakes for those who make assumptions about these animals based on human ways.
All apes are at home in the trees. Exceptional climbers, they can swing from branch to branch with ease. All four limbs can be used to grasp, and the arms are exceptionally powerful to allow them to pull themselves along in their arboreal realm. On the ground, apes can walk on their hind legs, but run on all fours, with the knuckles of the hands supporting their weight in front. Many of the more highly specialized tree dwellers are poor runners, but others can manage a fair turn of speed for short distances. All are capable of suprizing leaps from tree to tree or from the ground.
The senses of the apes are nearly the same as those of humans. They are sight dominant with good color vision and an excellent capability of recognizing objects by sight. Their hearing is not up to the mammalian norm, but is every bit as good as our own. Unlike most mammals, they lack vibrissae but compensate with an excellent tactile sense located in their hands. Like other primates, however, their sense of smell is poorly developed, and is used in more of a suporting role than a primary means of detection and indentification.
The apes are the most intelligent of all the animals, rivaled only by a few other species and surpassed only by man. They can think symbolically; concieve of, make, and use tools; and conduct elaborate deceptions and social stratagems. They have an instinctive grasp of the feelings and motivations of others, which they can attempt to manipulate to their advantage but which may lead to empathetic and altruistic behavior as well. Their social lives are complex, with shifting levels of dominance and aliegance depending on a variety of factors, much like our own social bonds. The nature of their societies varies from species to species: some live mostly solitary lives or with their immediate family, others gather in moderate sized foraging groups, and yet others live in tighly bound mated pairs with their immature children. Social bonds are reinforced by grooming each other's hair.
When fighting, apes do not punch or kick like a human. Rather, they grab with their powerful arms and bite with enlarged canine teeth. Occasionally, they strike and beat with their arms, but they lack the finesse of human pugilists in this regard. They will throw sticks and rocks at enemies, but lack the ability to throw small objects fast and hard like humans can achieve. Sometimes they club with a stick, but to limited effect, and sticks are not typically a first choice of weapon. Apes will fight amongst themselves for dominance, and will greet predators with a hail of dirt, rocks, and sticks if they think they have the advantages. Otherwise, the apes will flee, turning to fight only if cornered. Some apes will hunt for meat, grabbing smaller animals and killing them by biting and rending.
While meat may make up a small part of the diet of some species, they mostly eat shoots, tender young leaves, nuts, fruits, and tubers. Some will make a habit of consuming insects, even developing ingenious tools to collect them. Those same tool using species will also use rocks to crack nuts and sticks to dig or gather food.
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Marking the T? checkbox will give you the stats in template form with all costs listed, otherwise you get a stat sheet as for a character. Marking the HR? checkbox will print the information using all my house rules. Otherwise, the stats will be as compatable with plain vanilla GURPS as possible (although several custom advantages and disadvantages will be present, see my Traits page). |