Chimpanzee

Description:

Considered to be endangered. Little recent survey work has been carried out over much of the chimpanzee’s range, and so population estimates are crude. The most recent estimate of total population size is 172,700 to 299,700 (Butynski 2003). Approximately 6,400 to 9,600 eastern chimpanzees were estimated to occur outside the DRC, with about 5,000 in Uganda. DRC was estimated to have 70,000 to 110,000. Central African chimpanzees were estimated to number 70,000 to 116,500. In the west, P. t. verus is patchily distributed and number between 21,300 and 55,600 with the greatest number estimated to be found in Guinea (Kormos et al. 2003); P. t. ellioti is the least numerous taxon with a total population of less than 6,500 individuals remaining (B. Morgan and J. Oates pers. comm. 2006). The only relatively large and secure population of P. t. ellioti is in Gashaka-Gumti National Park in Nigeria, with an estimated population of up to 1,500 (Oates et al. 2003).

Habitat:

Chimpanzees are found predominantly in moist and dry forests, and forest galleries extending into savanna woodlands. They are omnivorous, and their diet is highly variable according to individual populations and seasons. Fruit comprises about half the diet, but leaves, bark, and stems are also important. Mammals comprise a small but significant component of the diet of many populations. Chimpanzees form social communities of 5 to 150 animals. Home ranges are larger in woodland forest mosaics than in mixed forest, and average 12.5 km² (range 5 to 400 km²).

Notes:

Male chimpanzee (clearly) letting it all hang out at the Los Angeles Zoo.