Wildlife
Chimpanzee

With a declining population of between under 300,000 individuals, all four subspecies of chimpanzees are considered endangered. Close relatives of humans, chimpanzees are essential to their environment as, like most great apes, they disperse seeds too large for most other animals.

CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED

After humans, chimpanzees show the most diverse and complex tool-using repertoires of all species

More than 140 human diseases are a threat to chimpanzees; their mortality rate from Ebola is 95%

Eating up to 300 different types of food, and up to 20 in a single day, chimpanzees are omnivores

Pan troglodytes troglodytes

Local names: Mokomboso (Lingala), Sumbu (Bendzele), Seku (Mbangombe), Ngondo (Bomitaba)

  • Chimpanzees are around 150 cm tall, and males weigh between 40 – 60 kg while women weigh between 32 – 47 kg. They are omnivorous and their diet depends on both season and individual preference, most often including fruits and insects.
  • Chimpanzees often use tools when feeding, for example using leaves to mop up water and using sticks to ‘fish’ for termites in termite mounds.
  • Chimpanzees are highly intelligent. They live high in the canopy, in complex social structures that include social hierarchies, friendships, and power struggles. They live in extended family groups of up to 120 individuals, headed by an alpha male. They can cooperate to opportunisticly hunt duikers and other small mammals.
  • Different chimpanzee populations have different behavioral repertoires, and specific behaviors can be culturally transmitted from parents to offspring
CHALLENGES

 

  • Poaching and illegal hunting: Chimpanzees are prized trophies, their severed hands can be valuable within certain societies and beliefs
  • Habitat loss due to logging: it has been proven that chimpanzee’s complex cultures, including the use of tools, are being lost as human disturbance expands
  • Human-borne diseases: chimpanzees are particularly vulnerable because of their genetic proximity. Their slow reproductive rate exacerbates the risk linked to epidemics
OUR APPROACH

 

  • Monitoring and studying chimpanzees population through regular extensive inventories and continuous studies to gather precise data to best inform policy
  • Supporting a full-chain law enforcement program, including intelligence-led anti-poaching, anti-trafficking and legal follow-up efforts
  • Working with national government and forestry companies to reduce habitat loss through improved landuse planning
  • Enforcing best practices to limit the risk of disease transmission and monitor zoonotic outbreaks
  • Promoting best practice guidelines for reducing the impact of commercial logging on great apes

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT