Common Chimpanzee
The chimpanzee is bigger and more robust than the bonobo and lives in groups with up to 200 members.
The chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), commonly abbreviated to chimp, is a medium-sized great ape species found in the forests and savannas of equatorial Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. The chimpanzee shares the genus Pan with the bonobo. Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing shows that the two species are humans' closest living relatives. The chimpanzee is bigger and more robust than the bonobo. It is covered in coarse black hair but has a bare face, fingers, toes, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet.
- Scientific Name
- Pan troglodytes
- Conservation Status
- Endangered (IUCN Red List)
- Social Structure
- Fission-fusion communities led by alpha males
Lore & Background
The first use of the name chimpanze is recorded in The London Magazine in 1738, glossed as meaning 'mockman' in a language of 'the Angolans' (reportedly modern Vili, a Kongo language of the coast, has the comparable ci-mpenzi). The spelling chimpanzee appears in a 1758 supplement to Chamber's Cyclopædia. The colloquialism 'chimp' was most likely coined sometime in the late 1870s. The genus name Pan derives from the Greek god, while the specific name troglodytes was taken from the Troglodytae, a mythical race of cave-dwellers.
In Their Own Story
In the forests of equatorial Africa, a young chimpanzee watches its mother as she strips leaves from a twig and inserts it into a termite mound. Withdrawing the stick covered in insects, she eats them, and the infant will learn this skill over years of observation. Nearby, the alpha male settles a dispute with a loud pant-hoot and a display of strength, reasserting his place in the strict male-dominated hierarchy without violence. The group, numbering around 40 members, will split into smaller foraging parties by day, reuniting at night in the safety of the canopy.
Reader's Guide
The species lives in groups with up to 200 members, although individuals travel and forage in much smaller groups during the day. The species lives in a strict male-dominated hierarchy, where disputes are generally settled without the need for violence. Nearly all chimpanzee populations have been recorded using tools, modifying sticks, rocks, grass and leaves and using them for hunting and acquiring honey, termites, ants, nuts and water. The species has also been found creating sharpened sticks to spear small mammals. Its gestation period is eight months. The infant is weaned at about three years old but usually maintains a close relationship with its mother for several years more.
Did You Know?
- The chimpanzee is listed on the IUCN Red List as an endangered species.
- Between 170,000 and 300,000 individuals are estimated across its range.
- The biggest threats to the chimpanzee are habitat loss, poaching, and disease.
- Chimpanzees appear in Western popular culture as comical figures and have featured in entertainments such as chimpanzees' tea parties, circus acts and stage shows.
- Although chimpanzees have been kept as pets, their strength, aggressiveness, and unpredictability makes them dangerous in this role.
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