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Interesting Chimpanzee Facts | 11 Things That You Probably Don't Know About chimps

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These pictures and text shows how long chimpanzees have been around.

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Chimpanzees are one of our closest extant, living, relatives. Let us look closer at their classification and evolutionary history to understand how this has happened. Ordering animals into a particular classification is the way by which scientists organize and understand how animals are related to one another.

Kingdom- Animalia

Phylum- Chordata

Class- Mammalia

Order- Primates

Family- Hominidae

Genus- Pan

Species- Pan troglodytes

Kingdom- Animalia

Phylum- Chordata

Class- Mammalia

Order- Primates

Family- Hominidae

Genus- Homo

Species- Homo sapiens

Humans and Chimpanzees are in the same kingdom, phylum, class, order, and family. This meaning that they are both animals who possess backbones, are endothermic (can maintain their own body temperature) and have mammary glands as well as hair or fur. They are both primates which includes all primate species, and are in the same family which includes all of the great apes including chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans. Humans and chimpanzees only differ in their genus and species, which simply means that humans and chimpanzees are not exactly identical in all characteristics, but that they are exceedingly similar in many ways. But exactly how did humans and chimpanzees become so closely related?

Most classification over the years has been done based on homologous, or shared similar traits, between animals. It makes it easier for scientists to determine what we humans have in common with other species, but this is not the only way to clearly see the close relatedness of humans and chimpanzees.

All primates share a common ancestor, a relative who lived before them from which the primate including chimps and humans evolved. The Hominoid common ancestor existed somewhere between 8 and 5 million years ago, just think about how long ago that was! Evolution is the process by which our genetic material, the part of biology that makes people unique, changes through time. Humans and chimps diverged from one another roughly around 6 million years ago.

There is evidence in the form of fossils and genetic composition, which supports the theory that, other than the bonobo, the chimpanzee are our closest living relative. Fossil evidence has come from all over the world to support the evolution of humans from other hominid species, but there has been a particular hot spot in Africa. This is very interesting since many primate species including the chimpanzees and gorillas are found in Africa. Olduvai gorge, Laetoli, and the Great Rift Valley were all very famous paleontological sites where fossils have been found. Many fossils have appeared to be half human and half chimpanzee, giving us another reason to believe that we are very closely related to chimps. A common location from which we all seem to stem supports the notion that we are very closely related to chimpanzees.

In addition to fossil evidence that links humans as having evolved from the same lineage that chimpanzee come from, there is also DNA evidence. DNA is found in our chromosome within the cells of our body and it holds the genetic information that makes each one of us unique. Scientists have been able to remove DNA from the cells of humans and chimpanzees alike to determine that we share 98% of our genes. This means that there is only 2% genetic material that makes you unique from a chimpanzee!

Message from CAC'ers

While in Africa we reflected upon where and from whom we as humans originated. The feeling of staring into the eyes of a chimpanzee, which evolved from the same ancestor that we have evolved from, was remarkable. It was like staring into the eyes of a person that has changed looks over a few years. You may not always recognize the outward appearance of a haircut, color, or body size but the eyes are never changing and always remain constant over time. Standing in Africa, where we as the human race evolved, while looking into the similar but never before seen eyes of a closely related chimpanzees was amazing. It felt like visiting our homeland and meeting the relatives that live in this far off land that we have, in our lifetime, never before seen.

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Chimpanzees are one of our closest extant, living, relatives. Let us look closer at their classification and evolutionary history to understand how this has happened. Ordering animals into a particular classification is the way by which scientists organize and understand how animals are related to one another.

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This information tells you why chimpanzees have ugly butts.

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This article shows why people should have food with them when they are around ape's/chimpanzees.

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Humans are the only species on earth that cooks its food. Not only do we cook our food, but we usually find the flavor of cooked foods preferable to the raw version. Compare the smell of raw and pan-fried bacon. Which version makes you drool?

It's no coincidence that your dog may be drooling alongside you. Several animals that have never eaten cooked food show a marked preference for a nice roast or stir-fry. Chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans all prefer cooked carrots, sweet potatoes, and even meat.

This natural predisposition has important implications for human evolution. Harvard anthropologist Richard Wrangham argues that cooking is not some simple, pleasant cultural development. Instead, it is the central driving force that transformed us from primitive hominids into Homo erectus and on through to Homo sapiens.

The key to cooking lies in the energy demands of our giant minds. The human brain uses up a quarter of the body's daily energy requirements. Cooked food provides significantly more available calories than raw food. From a chemical perspective, a raw and baked potato might have the same amount of total calories, but from a dietary perspective, the starches in a raw potato are largely useless to the average human gut. Add to this the fact that many poisonous plants become edible after cooking, and the first chefs were looking at a sudden increase of calories, not to mention free time. This influx of tasty nutrients allowed Homo erectus to redirect spare energy to evolving oversize brains.

Wrangham's argument breaks down if animals favor raw food when give a choice. If our ancestors did not naturally prefer cooked food, they might never have bothered figuring out how to throw an antelope on the barbeque. The fact that the great apes gravitate towards the taste of cooked food is a good indication that Wrangham's hypothesis may be correct.

Humans have become so perfectly adapted to cooking that it's tough for us to live without ready access to a stove or campfire. Raw foodists have supplements, drying machines, and other wonders of modern food technology to get enough calories to survive. According to Wrangham, there are no verifiable examples of anyone surviving on a raw diet in a state of nature. Throw someone on a desert island with an endless supply of steak tartare, and they'll still die of malnutrition unless they brought along a frying pan and a zippo.

Our dependence on heated food is encoded in our bodies. Our weak jaws, tiny teeth, small stomachs and short guts all indicate that our bodies are absolutely dependent on cooking as a a form of 'exterior digestion'. Cooking, along with language, may be the most natural technology that there is.
Thanks to Peter van de Graaf for the heads-up. To learn more about how cooking created leisure time and institutionalized sexism, read Richard Wrangham's excellent book, Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. Photo via Avax News.

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Apes Like Cooked Food, and What that Means for Human Evolution

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Humans are the only species on earth that cooks its food. Not only do we cook our food, but we usually find the flavor of cooked foods preferable to the raw version. Compare the smell of raw and pan-fried bacon. Which version makes you drool?

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The text shows why ape's/chimpanzees are mostly seen in Africa.

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Conservation Status:

Endangered

Scientific name

Pan troglodytes

Weight

55 to 110 lb.

Size

About 4 ft. tall

Life span

Up to 50 years

Habitat

Forest

Diet

Omnivorous

Gestation

8 months

Predators

Humans and leopards

What are chimps?

Chimpanzees are one of our closest relatives, sharing about 98% of their genes with humans. They have thickset bodies with long arms that extend beyond their knees, short legs, opposable thumbs, and no tails. Much of their body is covered with long black hair, but the face, ears, fingers, and toes are bare.

The chimpanzee is the mammal most like a human.

They are noisy, curious, intelligent, and social. Chimps live in loose communities that can number anywhere from 10 to more than 100 individuals. They can share a home range that they protect from intruders and will sometimes forage for food in groups.

They enjoy spending time together.

Chimps touch each other a great deal and may kiss when they meet. They also hold hands and groom each other. An adult chimp often has a special companion with which it spends a lot of time. Female chimps give their young a great deal of attention and help each other with babysitting chores. Older chimps in the group are usually quite patient with energetic youngsters-not unlike grandparents.

Chimps are not picky eaters.

After descending from their night nests in the trees, they hungrily feed on fruits, their principal diet, and on leaves, buds, and blossoms. After a while, their feeding becomes more selective, and they will choose only the ripest fruit. They usually pick fruit with their hands, but they eat berries and seeds directly off the stem with their lips. Their diet consists of up to 80 different plant foods, and they will spend anywhere from six to eight hours per day looking for food. Sometimes, chimps supplement their diets with meat, such as young antelopes or goats. Their most frequent victims, however, are other primates, such as young baboons, colobus monkeys, and blue monkeys.

They can use tools.

Chimps have opposable thumbs and a firm grip. This allows them to pick up objects and use "tools" for certain purposes.

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Chimps supplement their diets with meat, such as young antelopes or goats.

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Conservation Status: Endangered Scientific name Pan troglodytes Weight 55 to 110 lb. Size About 4 ft. tall Life span Up to 50 years Habitat Forest Diet Omnivorous Gestation 8 months Predators Humans and leopards Chimpanzees are one of our closest relatives, sharing about 98% of their genes with humans.

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this video shows how chimpanzees communicate with each other.

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How to Speak Chimpanzee | Extraordinary Animals | Series 2 | Earth