# Chimpanzee — Facts, Threats & Conservation

*Pan troglodytes*

> A chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is a great ape from the forests and woodlands of equatorial Africa. Along with the bonobo, it is humans' closest living relative, sharing roughly 98-99% of our DNA. Famous for tool use, complex societies and culture, it is classified as Endangered.

**IUCN status:** Endangered (IUCN); CITES Appendix I  ·  **WARN range:** West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa

## Quick facts
| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Scientific name | Pan troglodytes |
| Size (standing) | About 1-1.5 m tall |
| Weight | Males ~40 kg; females ~30 kg |
| Lifespan | 30-50+ years in the wild; older in captivity |
| Diet | Omnivore; mainly fruit, plus leaves, insects and some meat |
| Habitat | Rainforest, woodland and savanna of equatorial Africa |
| Range | West, Central and East Africa |
| Gestation | About 8 months; single infant |
| Group name | Community (or troop) |
| Subspecies | Four recognised |

## Scientific classification
- **Kingdom:** Animalia
- **Phylum:** Chordata
- **Class:** Mammalia
- **Order:** Primates
- **Family:** Hominidae
- **Genus:** Pan
- **Species:** Pan troglodytes

## Conservation status
- **Status:** Endangered on the IUCN Red List, with a decreasing population trend. Listed on CITES Appendix I, prohibiting commercial international trade. All four subspecies are threatened, and the Western chimpanzee (P. t. verus) is assessed as Critically Endangered.
- **Population:** Roughly 170,000-300,000 across its range, though estimates are uncertain
- **Trend:** Decreasing
- **Assessed:** Assessed Endangered in the most recent IUCN Red List review
- **CITES:** Appendix I
- Habitat loss, the bushmeat trade, poaching, disease (including Ebola) and the illegal pet trade are driving declines. The species' slow reproduction makes recovery difficult, and its patchy distribution means local extinctions can erase unique cultural behaviours.

## Key facts: Chimpanzee
- Chimpanzees and bonobos are humans' closest living relatives, sharing roughly 98-99% of our DNA.
- They make and use tools, from termite-fishing sticks to nut-cracking stones, and pass these skills to their young.
- Chimpanzees live in fission-fusion communities that can exceed 100 members, splitting into smaller foraging parties.
- Four subspecies are recognised across West, Central and East Africa.
- They are classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and listed on CITES Appendix I, with numbers falling.
- Habitat loss, the bushmeat trade, poaching, disease and the illegal pet trade are their main threats.

## What chimpanzees look like and where they live
Chimpanzees are robust, mostly black-haired great apes with bare faces, ears, hands and feet, and long, powerful arms suited to climbing and swinging through trees. Standing upright they reach about 1 to 1.5 metres tall; males typically weigh around 40 kg and females around 30 kg, with exceptional captive individuals heavier still. Their faces lighten or darken with age, and infants are born with a pale face and a tuft of white tail hair that fades over time. They walk on all fours using a distinctive knuckle-walking gait but stand and walk upright when carrying food or peering over vegetation. Chimpanzees range discontinuously across equatorial Africa, from Senegal in the west to Tanzania and Uganda in the east. They occupy a wide variety of habitats, including tropical rainforest, swamp forest, montane forest, woodland and dry savanna, provided there are fruiting trees and water. Each community defends a home range that it patrols and forages across, building fresh leafy sleeping nests in the trees each night.

## Tool use, hunting and chimpanzee culture
Few animals rival the chimpanzee for behavioural complexity. Nearly every wild population studied uses tools, and different communities favour different techniques, a pattern scientists describe as culture because the behaviours are learned socially rather than inherited. Chimpanzees strip leaves from twigs to "fish" for termites and ants, crumple leaves into sponges to soak up drinking water, and in parts of West Africa use stone or wooden hammers and anvils to crack hard-shelled nuts, a skill that takes years to master. Some populations have even been seen sharpening sticks to jab at small prey. Diets are broad and largely plant-based, dominated by ripe fruit but including leaves, seeds, flowers, bark, insects and honey. Chimpanzees also hunt cooperatively, most famously pursuing red colobus monkeys, then sharing the meat in ways shaped by social bonds. Communication is rich, combining dozens of vocalisations such as the carrying pant-hoot with facial expressions, gestures and drumming on tree buttresses. These cultural traditions vary so much between sites that losing a population can mean losing unique behaviours forever.

## Society, family life and reproduction
Chimpanzees live in multi-male, multi-female communities of roughly 15 to more than 150 individuals, organised around a fission-fusion structure: the whole community rarely gathers at once, instead splitting into smaller, ever-changing parties that forage and travel together before regrouping. Males usually remain in their birth community for life and form the core of a status hierarchy headed by an alpha male, whose position depends as much on alliances and grooming as on size or strength. Females often transfer to a new community as they mature, reducing inbreeding. Bonds are maintained through long bouts of social grooming, which calms tensions and reinforces relationships. Reproduction is slow, which makes population recovery difficult. After a gestation of about eight months a female gives birth to a single infant, which she carries, nurses and teaches for years; weaning occurs around three years of age and the interval between births is often four to six years. Youngsters learn foraging, tool use and social rules largely by watching their mothers and others. In the wild chimpanzees can live well past 40 and sometimes beyond 50 years, with some captive individuals reaching their sixties or older.

## Chimpanzee vs bonobo: how our two closest relatives differ
| Feature | Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) | Bonobo (Pan paniscus) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Range | West, Central and East Africa, north of the Congo River | Only south of the Congo River, in the DR Congo |
| Build | Stockier, more robust | More slender, with longer legs |
| Society | Male-dominated hierarchies | More female-centred and egalitarian |
| Conflict | Hunts often; can show marked intercommunity aggression | Uses social and sexual behaviour to defuse tension |
| IUCN status | Endangered | Endangered |

## What WARN does
WARN does not currently run dedicated field projects for chimpanzees, which live outside its five partner countries; this guide is part of WARN's free educational and awareness work to help people understand the species and the pressures it faces. The very threats that endanger chimpanzees, above all habitat loss alongside the wildlife trade, also harm the animals WARN does protect, which is why building public understanding of them matters.

If you value clear, science-based wildlife guides like this one, a small gift helps fund WARN's habitat and wildlife work for the animals in its care.

## Frequently asked questions: Chimpanzee
### Are chimpanzees endangered?
Yes. The chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and its population is decreasing. It is also listed on CITES Appendix I, the strictest level of international trade protection. The main threats are habitat loss from logging and agriculture, the bushmeat trade and poaching, infectious disease, and capture for the illegal pet trade.

### How much DNA do chimpanzees share with humans?
Chimpanzees share roughly 98-99% of their DNA with humans, with the most commonly cited figure around 98.8% for directly comparable sequences. Along with bonobos, they are our closest living relatives. This deep genetic similarity is reflected in shared traits such as tool use, complex social bonds, problem-solving and a wide range of emotional expressions, though humans and chimpanzees last shared a common ancestor several million years ago.

### What do chimpanzees eat?
Chimpanzees are omnivores with a largely plant-based diet dominated by ripe fruit. They also eat leaves, seeds, flowers, bark, insects such as termites and ants, and honey. Many populations hunt cooperatively for small and medium mammals, most famously red colobus monkeys, and share the meat. Diets vary between communities and seasons, reflecting both local food availability and learned cultural traditions.

### Do chimpanzees really use tools?
Yes. Nearly every wild chimpanzee population studied uses tools, and they are among the most accomplished tool-users in the animal kingdom. They fish for termites and ants with stripped twigs, soak up water with leaf sponges, and in some regions crack hard nuts using stone or wooden hammers and anvils. Different communities favour different techniques, learned socially, which scientists regard as evidence of chimpanzee culture.

### How long do chimpanzees live?
In the wild chimpanzees commonly live into their thirties and forties, and some individuals survive past 50 years. In captivity they can live even longer, with documented individuals reaching their sixties and, in rare cases, close to 80. Their slow life history, with single births spaced several years apart and years of maternal care, means populations recover slowly from losses.

### What is the difference between a chimpanzee and a bonobo?
Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) are closely related great apes and our two closest living relatives. Bonobos live only south of the Congo River and tend to be more slender, with female-centred societies and frequent use of social and sexual behaviour to ease tension. Chimpanzees have a wider range, more male-dominated hierarchies, hunt more often and can show greater intercommunity aggression.

## Sources
- [Chimpanzee - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimpanzee)
- [IUCN Red List - Pan troglodytes](https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15933/129038584)
- [CITES - Appendices](https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Chimpanzee](https://www.britannica.com/animal/chimpanzee)
- [National Geographic - Chimpanzee](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/chimpanzee)

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Full guide: https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/chimpanzee