Chimps are the man’s closest living relatives, sharing about 98% of our genes. People and chimpanzees are additionally believed to share a common ancestor who lived around 4 – 8 million years ago.

They live in social groups of several dozen animals and can habituate themselves to African rainforests, woodland, and grasslands.

In spite of the fact that they normally walk on all fours, chimps can stand and walk upright. By swinging from branch to branch they can also move quite well in the trees, where they do the most of their eating. Chimpanzees generally rest in the trees also, using nests of leaves.

Chimps are mainly fruit and plant eaters; however, they also eat insects, eggs, and meat, including carrion. They have an immensely differed diet that incorporates many known food.

Chimps are among the few animal species that use tools. The shape and use stick to dig out termites out of the mounds or dig grubs from out of logs. They also use stones to crush open tasty nuts and use leaves as sponges to soak up drinking water. Chimpanzees can even be taught to use some basic human sign language.

Females can conceive an offspring at any time of year, normally to a single baby that sticks to its mom’s fur and later rides on her back until the age of two. Females reach reproductive age at 13, while guys are not considered adults until they are 16 years of age.

In spite of the fact that chimpanzees and people are closely related, the primates have endured much at human hands. These awesome primates are endangered and still threatened by bushmeat hunters and habitat destruction.