Chimpanzees, our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, are remarkable creatures that have captured our fascination for centuries. These intelligent and social primates exhibit a wide range of behaviors and traits that continue to astonish researchers and wildlife enthusiasts alike. You can meet these endangered great apes while on a Uganda safari through several forest reserves in Uganda.
There is still a range of facts about chimpanzees you need to know about these special primates. The chimpanzees fall among the Hominidae family together with the gorillas, both mountain gorillas and lowland gorillas, and orangutans. Despite, the chimpanzees are the only apes that are closest to the Homo sapiens, humans, sharing about 98% of the human DNA.
Chimpanzees are Purposeful Pointers
If you’ve ever pointed a finger to identify something you want, you are a purposeful pointer! Chimpanzees also fall into this category. They are capable of pointing to an object they want to let someone know that they want it.
Not all Alphas are Male
Chimpanzee family groups are organized into hierarchies for both males and females. In most chimpanzee troops the leader of this hierarchy, or “alpha” of the group, is male. However, there are some cases when a female will rise through the ranks to become the alpha.
Chimps can smile like Humans Do
Chimpanzees have a wide variety of facial expressions but a true smile is not one of them. The expression commonly believed to be a smile – where the lips are pulled back completely to show both the top and bottom teeth – is actually what we call a fear grimace. Chimps make this expression when they are afraid, unsure, stressed, or wanting to appear submissive to a more dominant troop member.
The closest expression chimps have to a smile is a play face. A chimpanzee enjoying a good tickle session with another chimp may show their bottom row of teeth with their mouth open and relaxed.
Chimpanzees Form Gangs
Coalitions of male chimps regularly patrol the boundary of their territory and make incursions into neighboring territories. Sometimes, if they already live in an area with a reliable food source, they might wage a preemptive strike to protect their territory.
There is a lot of intention that goes into these patrols, from choosing members to deciding where to go. Often the chimpanzee coordinating the patrol will select male relatives that he trusts. Sometimes they choose chimps who have a history of being part of successful raids. Sometimes a chimp is selected because they are seen as a potential ally who will support a bid for power against an alpha male later. These are all sophisticated decisions requiring the highly developed brain discussed above.
Once the patrol reaches the edge of their territory, they get quiet and alert while they assess the situation. Whether or not a physical confrontation happens depends entirely on numbers. If the patrol finds a lone male or a small group, they are very likely to attack. If they come across another patrol that has as many, or more, than their own, they will retreat.
Chimps are one of the few animals that are known to use tools
Much like humans, chimpanzees utilise self-made tools in order to feed and protect themselves, and have found ingenious ways to do so. From using small branches to dig out termites from their mounds, to smashing rocks to crack open nuts to searching the right length of twig to scratch themselves, chimpanzees have real creativity in turning tools to their benefit.
Chimps build nests every night
Each night, chimpanzees build new nests to sleep in. Chimpanzees build nests for several important reasons, primarily related to safety, comfort, and health. These nests, often constructed high in the trees, serve as their sleeping quarters. By bending and weaving branches and leaves together, they build nests that provide a comfortable and stable platform. They act as a cushion against the hard tree branches, and the leaves provide additional insulation, helping to regulate temperature during the night.
Female chimpanzees only give birth once every five years
Most pregnancies typically carry only one child. Infant chimpanzees will cling on to its mother’s furs and ride on her back until the ages three to five, resulting in a close familial bond even after reaching maturity.
They may have rituals
Camera footage of four groups of chimpanzees in West Africa revealed animals that would throw stones at or into certain trees and then leave the rocks there so they could repeat the process. The practice did not appear to have anything to do with foraging or tool use. The authors suggest that the activity may be ritualistic in nature, while acknowledging that the very definition of “ritual” in this case is contested.
The majority of the participants were male, and the throwing activity included a pant hoot vocalization. The significance of the practice itself remains unclear, but it opens up another avenue for understanding chimpanzees.
They can walk on two legs
Chimps get around by a lot of climbing and swinging from tree to tree. Not unlike gorillas, chimpanzees usually walk on all fours, otherwise known as knuckle-walking, but have been recorded to walk on two feet on the rare occasion.
They warn their friends of danger
Chimps live in dangerous spaces, but fortunately they have each other’s backs. These great apes are known for warning their friends, but in a 2013 study, scientists discovered that chimps will adjust their warnings based on the information they perceive that the other chimps have about the threat. Chimps will make alarming vocalizations and gaze at a threat and then back at their group until other chimps take notice. If they believe another chimp is unaware, their vocalizations and gestures become more urgent. The study also found that chimps will give more warnings about threats to chimps who are relatives or friends.
Chimps have demonstrated signs of Alzheimer’s
A team of researchers analyzed the preserved brains of 20 chimps that died between the ages of 37 and 62, paying specific attention to the regions that are damaged by Alzheimer’s. They found that four of the 20 brains contained plaque made of a protein called amyloid and tangles of a protein called tau, both indicators of Alzheimer’s in humans. All 20 brains showed signs of “pre-tangles.” Researchers in this study didn’t have records of changes in the chimps’ behaviors, including severe dementia, but the presence of the proteins and the plaque suggest that it would have been possible for the chimps to have experienced such changes.
In conclusion
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 Kibale Forest national park.