- Because chimps
live in complex family groups,
they use a wide range of auditory,
visual and tactile signals adapted
both for distant and close communication.
Chimpanzees have been called
the noisiest of all African
animals! With loud calls, they
can wander far within their
territory and still stay in
contact with community members.
- Born near Kenema,
Sierra Leone, Pinkie was the
world's only known albino chimpanzee.
Unlike most albino animals Pinkie
had one blue eye & one brown
eye. More
about Pinkie.
- Young chimps
and young baboons sometimes
play together when they meet
in the forest.
- Most mothers
give birth to one young an average
of every five to six years in
the wild. Young chimps stay
with their mothers for up to
10 years.
- Grooming: social
grooming is probably the most
important social behaviour among
chimps, serving to maintain
or improve friendships and reinforce
the bonds between group members.
Grooming also serves to remove
dirt and parasites.
- Chimpanzees
are highly social apes and in
the wild they live in large
families.
- Chimpanzees
are more closely related to
humans than they are even to
gorillas.
- Following a
gestation period that averages
7.5 months, a single chimps
infant is born relatively helpless.
Several days pass before he
is able to cling to his mother.
At six months, the young chimp
is able to ride on her back.
- About 90% of
all primates are found in tropical
rain forests around the world.
As these habitats disappear,
primates become endangered.
One on five species of primates
is either endangered or critically
endangered.
- Chimpanzees
are found in a wide belt that
extends across equatorial Africa
from the west coast to within
a few hundred kilometres of
the east coast. They are the
most adaptable of the great
apes, living in habitats that
range from rain and montane
forests to dry woodlands, and
sometimes even savanna.
- Scientists once
thought that tool making was
something that only humans could
do. Jane Goodall, the world’s
most famous primatologist, discovered
that chimps make and use tools.
They use leaves, grasses, sticks
and rocks to 'fish', hammer,
crush, drink swat and scare.
They are able to use and make
tools because they have flexible
hands and big brains.
- By following
wild chimps through the forests,
scientists discovered that chimps
use medicinal plants to treat
and protect themselves from
illness and injury.
