We are mammals

Chimpanzees are Mammals. We belong to the order of Primates. Our family is Hominidae and our genus is Pan.

Our hair color

We have black brown hair. Our face is bare except for a short white beard. Skin is fair and face, hands and feet are black. The faces of younger animals may be pinkish or whitish. We have long arms that are about 1 ½ times our height and they let us climb trees swiftly and swing easily from branch to branch.

Our body

We have thickset bodies, short legs, opposable thumbs and no tail. Our babies and infants cling helplessly to the mothers‛ bellies as we move around.

Female chimps like me mature when we are about 13 years old and males at 16.

Nests

We build nests using leaves and twigs and sleep on branches of trees. We also do most of our eating on trees.

Moms with baby

We moms look after our young ones for about 5 years. The babies are then weaned off milk and taught to eat normal chimp foods.

We are omnivores

We are omnivores. We prefer fruits, plants, berries, blossoms and seeds, but we also eat bird‛s eggs and chicks, insects, small animals and even tortoises.

We are social creatures

Chimpanzees are very social creatures and live in informal communities that have between about 10 to more than 100 individuals. We usually walk on all fours (called “knuckle walking”) but we can also stand upright and walk like you!

Like humans

Even our expressions and emotions, such as self-recognition, curiosity, sympathy, grief, etc are akin to human beings.

Strangely chimp yawns are just as contagious to them as they are for humans.

We are intelligent animals

We are intelligent animals who can solve many problems you put before us and can also communicate using signals like you! We use tools to hunt and eat. Eg. sticks, grass, vines, and stalks to dig out termites and ants; stones to crack open shells and spongy leaves to soak up and drink water.

We use medicinal plants

We chimps use medicinal plants to treat illnesses and clear germs from our stomachs. We have 32 teeth like you but more fang-like canines.

We can swim

We can swim the breaststroke like you. And like all Primates including you, we too laugh when tickled! And did you know that, in tests and studies conducted on us, we have demonstrated the ability to learn and play games that need skill in recognizing and exploiting the behavior of opponents.