Fun facts about Chimpanzees : Chimpanzees often called the chimps are one of the most commonly spotted apes of the region that tend to spotted in the forested areas and some times the savannah lands of Africa. The Chimpanzee species are closely related to the humans and the famous gorillas and there are a number of identifiers for these animals.
The Chimpanzees can be visited in several places and these are some quite fascinating creatures and you can get to visit and testify to this on a Uganda safari or Rwanda safari to any of the chimpanzee destinations. The chimpanzees are on the red list of IUCN’s endangered species with about 170,000 to 300,000 individuals left in the world. These chimpanzees are threatened by the habitat loss and human interference such as poaching and human transmittable disease.
The chimpanzees are divided into four subspecies and all these have similar characteristics such as an average standing height of 150 cm approximately 4 feet 11 inches with a weight range of 60 kilograms for the grown adults and 27 to 50 kgs for the female adults. These are hairy animals whose whole body is covered win fur excluding the face, the toes, palms of the hands and the soles of the feet.
Are you booked for a chimpanzee trekking experience, are you interested in the chimpanzee trekking experience or just fascinated by the chimpanzees, here are a few facts you may need to know or witness for yourself.
Great Apes; the chimpanzees are one of the great ape animals and there are only four animals under this category and these are the chimpanzees along with the bonobos, orangutans and the much loved gorillas.
African animals; one may consider the chimpanzees “African animals” as these are endemic species to Africa and can only be visited in the wild and in their natural habitat in Africa and this doesn’t mean you can not spot them in zoos all over the world as these creatures can survive in captivity. You can only spot the chimpanzees in the wild in Africa.
DNA percentage; The chimpanzees are close to human in relation and even appearance and with the research that has been carried out, it has been identified that the chimpanzees share up to 95 to 98 percent of the same DNA with the humans and a greater relation than they have with the gorillas.
This also put the chimpanzees at a disadvantaged point as they can easily contract human disease such as the influenza and other airborne infections. There has not been any confirmation on if the apes can contract COVID-19.
Tools; the chimpanzees just like the other animals make use if tools such as sharpening rock to make cutting equipment or breaking open nuts with stones or even sticks when checking depth of water sources. Very intelligent fellows.
The chimpanzees have been seen using the tools more often than other animals and they come second to tool use after the humans who were thought to be the only ones who get handy with tools thus Fun facts about Chimpanzees.
Survive in captivity; The chimpanzees as earlier mentioned can thrive in the wild as well as in captivity with the right conditions. While in captivity, the chimpanzees can be equipped with some skills such as human languages like the common ASL (American sign language). There was once a female chimpanzee called Washoe who knew 240 signs in the language.
Besides the positive of being adaptive to teachings while in captivity, the chimpanzees in captivity can thrive to up to 60 years but rarely more than 50 years in the wild.
Diet; the chimpanzees tend to eat the small animals on a few occasions such as the bushbucks or even the monkeys and also feed on fruits, nuts, plants and small insects. The diet of the chimpanzees enables them to survive in a number of places as compared to the mountain gorillas whose diet is limited.
Family; on a chimpanzee trekking experience, you may spot the chimpanzees in groups and these usually care for each other and also groom each other and is a common sighting. These chimpanzees play together and they laugh as they play thus Fun facts about Chimpanzees.
The chimps make a number of sounds and one of these sounds is the pant hoot and this differs for every chimpanzee. They communicate among each other just like the humans, kissing, hugging, touching and even tickling each other.
The chimpanzees are found and harmoniously living in 21 African countries and these are mostly in Central and Eastern Africa as these are the places with rich rain forests and one of the best places for chimpanzee trekking is Uganda in the Kibaale forest national park and the Nyungwe forest national park of Rwanda. We look forward to hearing from you about your Rwanda safari or Uganda safari.
