On 14 July, we celebrate our flagship species: chimpanzees! World Chimpanzee Day marks the day when, in 1960, Dr Jane Goodall first entered the forest at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania to start her trailblazing research on wild chimpanzees. To mark this anniversary, we now celebrate World Chimpanzee Day on this day every year.
What is the chimpanzee?
Chimpanzees are great apes found across central and West Africa. Along
with bonobos, they are our closest living relatives, sharing 98.7 percent of
our genetic blueprint. Humans and chimps are also thought to share a common
ancestor who lived some seven to 13 million years ago.
Behaviour
Chimpanzees are highly social. They live in communities of several dozen
animals, led by an alpha male and his coalition of male allies. Research
has shown that male and female chimps have individual personalities, with
females being more trusting and timid. Grooming is an important part of their
social life, helping chimpanzees bond as they remove ticks and dirt from one
another’s bodies.
Although they normally walk on all fours (knuckle-walking), chimpanzees can stand and walk upright. Chimpanzees have long arms, hands, and fingers, which help them climb trees and swing from branch to branch.
Tool use
This intelligent animal is one of the few species we know to use tools—which primatologist Jane Goodall famously observed in 1960. Her groundbreaking discovery led archaeologist Louis Leakey to declare, “Now we must redefine ‘tool,’ redefine ‘man,’ or accept chimpanzees as humans.”
As Goodall observed, chimpanzees shape and use sticks to retrieve insects from their nests or dig grubs out of logs. They use stones to smash open tasty nuts and employ leaves as sponges to soak up drinking water. And chimpanzees can even be taught to use some basic human sign language.
Habitat and diet
Chimpanzees have the widest range of any great ape. Though many
populations live in tropical rainforests, they can also be found in woodlands
and grasslands spanning from central to western Africa. They usually sleep in
trees—typically the sturdy Ugandan ironwood tree, which offers the most firm
and stable place to sleep—and build themselves nests of leaves.
Chimps also do most of their eating in trees. Though they generally
prefer fruits and plants, they have a varied diet that also includes insects,
eggs, nuts, and hundreds of other things. They relish meat, and have been
known to kill and eat monkeys, small antelope, and even tortoises, which
they slam against trees to break open their shells.
Reproduction
Females chimpanzees can give birth at any time of year, typically to a
single infant that clings to its mother's fur and later rides on her back until
the time of weaning between ages three and five. Females reach reproductive age
at 13, while males are not considered adults until they are 15.
Threats to survival
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has declared
the chimpanzee an endangered species—and the booming human population is
primarily to blame. As humans move into more and more of the chimp’s geographic
range, they clear away the ape’s forest habitat to make way for
agriculture. Logging, mining, oil extraction, and new road and highway projects
threaten to further degrade and fragment the chimp’s habitat.
In western Uganda, habitat loss has fuelled conflict between humans and
our closest relatives. Deforestation not only makes it harder for chimps
to find a place to live, but it also strains their wild food supply. In
desperation, many resort to foraging from the homes of humans nearby. Though
they mostly steal fruit and other food within reach, the apes occasionally
snatch and kill small children. Humans kill chimps in retaliation and to
protect their families from future attacks.
Bushmeat hunters target chimps because they provide
more meat than smaller mammals, sometimes collecting their offspring as pets
for themselves or to sell into the illegal pet trade. And chimpanzees are
susceptible to infectious diseases, too. Since the 1980s, the Ebola virus has
killed them in significant numbers.
Conservation
Chimpanzees are protected by national and international laws,
including U.S. Endangered Species Act. Some of their habitat is protected
as sanctuaries or reserves, too. Conservation organizations are working to
expand these protected areas, while also pushing for an end to the illegal
killing and taking of the animals.
Key to securing the future of the chimpanzee, though, is improving its
relationship with humans. Many organizations work with communities to build
awareness about the threats chimpanzees face, develop action plans to preserve
their habitats, and help community members develop alternative livelihoods that
do not jeopardize the animal’s habitat.
