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Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are intelligent, emotional, aggressive, and social—making them our closest living relatives. But their family side might not be the ideal dinner guest. Here are a few things to know about chimps, our evolutionary cousins.
1. Chimpanzees are one of the four great ape species.
The other three great apes are bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas. Technically, humans are also classified as great apes—we all belong to the family Hominidae. Chimpanzees are more closely related to us than gorillas, sharing over 98 percent of our genetic makeup.
2. Chimpanzees have diverse diets.
Chimps enjoy a wide variety of foods, consuming up to 200 different items, including fruits, nuts, seeds, insects, and even small mammals, like other monkeys. Unfortunately, they are also targeted by humans for “bushmeat,” which refers to wild animals that could carry diseases transmissible to humans.
3. Chimpanzees are highly social creatures.
Chimps thrive in social settings. They live in groups ranging from 20 or fewer to more than 100 members. Unlike gorillas, chimpanzee communities can include multiple adult males and females, with various family units. Upon reaching sexual maturity, females may move to new groups, while males typically remain in their birth group.
4. Grooming is how chimpanzees express affection.
Grooming—basically picking through a chimp’s fur to remove parasites, dirt, and dead skin—helps calm them, promote health, and strengthen social connections. Lower-ranking chimps often groom higher-ranking ones to gain protection or other social advantages. If a low-ranking chimp is grooming a companion of similar status and notices a higher-ranking chimp pass by, the groomer may halt the grooming. This could be because they prefer to spend time grooming someone who offers more social benefits, like the high-ranking chimp nearby.
5. Chimpanzees live in rainforests.
Chimps: They're remarkably similar to us | Andyworks/iStock via Getty ImagesThe four chimp subspecies inhabit the most expansive range of any great ape species (except for humans), stretching across tropical and mountain rainforests in West and Central Africa. Within their territories, chimps patrol and defend their areas. Male groups often mark the borders of their territory and will sometimes attack if they encounter neighboring or rival groups. Victorious groups may expand their territory after a fight.
6. Due to their physical build, chimpanzees are not strong swimmers.
With a top-heavy body and low fat percentage, chimps are likely to sink in water. Like orangutans, their arms are longer than their legs. When they move on all fours, they use their knuckles for support. However, chimps are also capable of walking upright for short distances, similar to humans.
7. Chimpanzees are second only to humans in their use of tools.
In the 1960s, Jane Goodall made history by being the first to observe chimps in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park using and making tools. She watched them strip leaves from twigs [PDF] and dip the sticks into termite mounds, retrieving the sticks covered in tasty insects. Further studies revealed that the Gombe chimps utilized objects like leaves and rocks for nine different tasks.
Chimpanzees in other parts of the world use tools in unique ways, such as using sticks to collect honey from beehives. In 2007, archaeologists in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, unearthed rocks that a prehistoric chimpanzee group had used to crack nuts.
8. Chimpanzees are considered an endangered species.
Fewer than 300,000 chimpanzees remain in the wild across their range. While they are protected by both national and international laws, enforcement is often insufficient. Even those living in reserves may not be safe from poaching, one of the biggest threats to their survival. Other contributors to the decline of chimpanzee populations include diseases and habitat destruction due to logging and agriculture. In regions with intact forests, a significant human footprint—high population density and infrastructure—often corresponds with a lower number of chimps.
9. The National Institutes of Health no longer supports chimpanzee use in scientific experiments.
Chimpanzees have been subjects of biomedical research in the U.S. since the 1920s [PDF], with the practice intensifying during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s. In 2013, the National Institutes of Health announced a plan to reduce the number of chimps used in research. By 2015, they stated they would cease funding research involving chimpanzees. Over 300 chimps have since been retired to the Federal Sanctuary System’s national sanctuary in Louisiana.
