Chimpanzee | Species

Species
Chimpanzee

Species
Chimpanzee

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Overview
Why They Matter
Threats
What WWF is Doing
How You Can Help
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Overview

Status
Endangered
Population
172,700 to 299,700
Scientific Name
Pan troglodytes
Habitats
Forests (moist and dry forests)

Like us, chimps are highly social animals, care for their offspring for years and can live to be over 50. In fact, chimpanzees are our closest cousins; we share about 98 percent of our genes.

In their habitat in the forests of central Africa, chimpanzees spend most of their days in the tree tops. When they do come down to earth, chimps usually travel on all fours, though they can walk on their legs like humans for as far as a mile. They use sticks to fish termites out of mounds and bunches of leaves to sop up drinking water.

Places
Congo Basin
Habitats
Forests

Browse Photos & Videos

Why They Matter

Despite our shared lineage, humans are pushing chimpanzees toward extinction. Chimps have already disappeared completely from four countries and are under tremendous pressure everywhere else they live.

Threats

Population 172,700 to 299,700
Extinction Risk Endangered
1. EX
  Extinct
  
  No reasonable doubt that the last individual has died
2. EW
  Extinct in the Wild
  
  Known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalised population
3. CR
  Critically Endangered
  
  Facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the Wild
4. EN
  Endangered
  
  Facing a high risk of extinction in the Wild
5. VU
  Vulnerable
  
  Facing a high risk of extinction in the Wild
6. NT
  Near Threatened
  
  Likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future
7. LC
  Least Concern
  
  Does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, or Near Threatened

Pan troglodytes Chimpanzee A male resting in the winter sun on a tree Chimfunshi Chimpanzee Orphanage, Zambia

Disease

Disease also stalks chimpanzees: Ebola outbreaks have killed tens of thousands of great apes.

Illegal Wildlife Trade

Poaching is another prominent threat. Bushmeat has always been a primary food source in Central and West Africa, but in recent years poaching has become commercialized to satisfy the appetites of wealthy urban residents. Infant chimpanzees are frequently taken alive and sold in cities as pets.

What WWF Is Doing

WWF establishes, strengthens, and manages protected areas in Central and West Africa. In Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Cameroon and other countries, we:

protect chimpanzees through antipoaching and effective law enforcement
help governments establish and manage national parks
monitor chimpanzee populations
encourage sustainable use of forest resources in park buffer zones
build trans-boundary collaboration to develop partnerships between neighboring countries

We also develop chimpanzee-focused ecotourism and work to stop illegal poaching in logging concessions. WWF continues to look for ways to reduce the impact of the bushmeat trade on apes and other endangered species.

Experts

Matthew Lewis Senior Program Officer, African Species, Species Conservation Program

How You Can Help

Take Action

Tell your members of Congress and President Obama to reject budget proposals that would slash funding for endangered species and tropical forests, clean air and water, and efforts to confront climate change.