Chimpanzees Are The Closest Species To Mankind

Humans and chimpanzees are believed to share a common ancestor who lived some four to eight million years ago. Like human beings they are bestowed with intelligence and are social, noisy and curious. They share more than ninety eight percent of our genetic material. The number of chimpanzees in the world is estimated to be between 100,000 and 200,000. Chimpanzees live in social groups of several dozen animals.

Although they normally walk on all fours, chimpanzees have the ability to stand and walk upright. When standing Chimpanzees are around 1.52m in height. Its weight is usually in the range of 29 to 54 kg. Chimpanzees have very long arms surprisingly longer than the legs, and a short body covered with black hair except on the face, fingers, palms, armpits, and bottoms of their feet. Adult chimpanzees have a short, white beard. By swinging from branch to branch they can also move quite well in the trees, where they do most of their eating. Chimpanzees usually sleep in the trees as well on nests of leaves. They can live up to the age of 50 in the wild, but have been recorded to reach up to the age of 60 in captivity.

Chimpanzees are one of the rare animal species that use tools. They use sticks to retrieve insects from their nests. They also use stones to smash open hard nuts. Chimpanzees have been taught to use some basic human sign language. Chimpanzees are omnivores and feed on both plants and meat. They search for food in the forests during the day - fruits, flowers, leaves, seeds, tree bark, plant bulbs and tender plant shoots. Their diet also consists of termites, ants, and small animals. Chimpanzees drink water, often by using a chewed leaf as a sponge to absorb the water. When faced by a predator, chimpanzees will scream loudly and use any object they can get against it. The leopard is the chimpanzee's main predator, though there have been instances of lions devouring them.

Females attain the reproductive age at thirteen, while males are at sixteen years old. The female’s gestation period is between 7.5 to 8 months. Females can give birth at any time of year, typically to a single baby chimpanzee that clings to its mother's fur and later rides on her back until the age of two. Young chimps may stay with their mothers till they are ten years old.

The greatest concentration of chimpanzee populations is present in the rain forest areas on what used to be known as the equatorial forest ‘belt’ - stretching across Central Africa. They like to live in hot and humid climate. They are usually found in dense tropical rainforests but can also be found in woodlands, bamboo forests, swamps, and open savannah. While chimpanzees spend equal time on land and in trees, they do most of their eating and sleeping in trees.

It is present in West and Central Equatorial Africa. Chimpanzees are found in twenty-one African nations. Congo, Angola, Senegal, Tanzania and Sierra Leone are a few of the countries it inhabits. Only 10 countries have chimpanzee populations more than 1,000. They are in abundance along the river Zaire. Habitat destruction is the greatest threat to its existence. Hunting and commercial exportation are also blamed for their declining numbers.