CHIMPAZEE FACTS

CHIMPANZEE

Their scientific names is called Pan Troglodytes and are related to humans with about 98% (percent) DNA same as human living in the rainforest areas and woodland of West and Central Africa. The male chimpanzee weighs 35 to 70 kilograms, and a female weighs 26 to 50 kilograms. The height is up to 1.2 metres and the female is under a metre.

They are omnivores which means they eat plants and meat where they feed on leaves, roots, seeds, nuts, and fruit blossoms and sometimes they hunt monkeys for meet and need to drink water every day. They also have six sets of chewing teeth (molars) in their lifetime.

The alpha male is the leader of the family group and females have a baby at 12 year with a gestation period of nine (9) months. It has a life span of 40 years in the wild and up to 60 years in captivity.

They are the most intelligent Apes where sometimes they make Umbrella from large leaves whereby they cover themselves from heavy rains and sunshine. They do also make tools for example; they strip leaves off a thin branch, put the stick into a termite mound and after pull it out when it is covered with tasty termites; they use tools to crack nuts however this takes a lot of practice to use a rock to crack open a nut.

There intelligence explains how they do groom each other every day by carefully inspect each other’s hair and skin to keep it clean, carrying their young ones on their bucks, play and wrestle together and have great fun chasing each other, love to be tickled

There hearing, sight, smells, taste and touch are similar to humans. Chimpanzees make sleeping nests at night whereby they bend over branches and put leafy twigs under their heads to make a comfortable bed to sleep on. Communication in chimpazee is by soft grunts, barks, scream and paint hoots. They can be hard for a distance of three kilometers through the forest when there is danger and one can tell by their faces when they are happy, sad, surprised or even angry

 They are called knuckle-walkers because they use their knuckles for support when walking. And posses opposable big toes. Their arms are longer than the legs and can also walk upright.

They are threatened with extinction. 100 years ago there were about one million chimpanzees. Fewer than 200000 chimpanzees now survive in the wild.