The phrase "apes did not" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in contexts discussing the behavior, characteristics, or evolutionary aspects of apes, often in a comparative or negative statement.
Example: "In the study of human evolution, it is important to note that apes did not develop the same level of cognitive abilities as humans."
Alternatives: "apes failed to" or "apes have not".
Contrary to what we had expected based on the findings by Haun et al. (2006), apes did not prefer to use a spatial strategy.
It is important to mention that the apes did not have any previous experience with the frozen juice that we used in our experiment.
Subjects in the 'seeing' group were tested with the same procedure as subjects in the 'learning and seeing' group, with the exception that the apes did not receive any training and directly participated in one test session of 12 trials.
Despite all the hype that preceded it, the first trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes didn't land as solidly as anyone hoped.
"Apes do not practice foreplay".
Chimpanzees and other apes do not helpfully inform each other about things.
"Apes, do not, want war," leader of the apes Caesar, played by Andy Serkis, declares at the start of the trailer.
Animals such as birds and the great apes do not have vomeronasal organs, and in these animals pheromones are of little or no importance.
This has been a long time brewing; Caesar sought to avoid it, riding into town at the head of an ape army and barking, "Apes do not want war," but he is undone by the plotting of Koba (Toby Kebbell), a bonobo with a scarred face and a bad attitude.
For yet another consequence of understanding that the target ability is qualitatively different is that, since humans have it and apes do not, the information for how to achieve it must be encoded in the relatively tiny number of differences between the DNA of humans and that of chimpanzees.
Great apes including humans have these traits, but lesser apes do not.
