World Chimpanzee Day – 14th July
World Chimpanzee Day – 14th July
In honor of humankind’s closest living relative, World Chimpanzee Day is a celebration of an extraordinary species: chimpanzees! It is held on the 14th of July each year and was established by the Jane Goodall Institute. Dr. Jane Goodall is a world-renowned primatologist.
The chimpanzee, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close relative the bonobo was more commonly known as the pygmy chimpanzee, this species was often called the common chimpanzee or the robust chimpanzee. Adult chimpanzees have an average standing height of 150cm. Wild adult males weigh between 40 and 70kg with females weighing between 27 and 50kg.The arms of a chimpanzee are longer than its legs and can reach below the knees. The hands have long fingers with short thumbs and flat fingernails. The feet are adapted for grasping, and the big toe is opposable. Chimpanzees normally walk as all fours but they can stand and walk upright.
The chimpanzee is an omnivore. It prefers fruit above all other food items but also eats leaves, leaf buds, seeds, blossoms, stems, pith, bark, resin, honey, soil, insects, birds and their eggs, small to medium-sized mammals, including other primates, Insect species including weaver ant and honey bees. The red colobus ranks at the top of preferred mammal prey.
Chimpanzees display numerous signs of intelligence; remembers symbols, cooperation and self awareness. They use insects to treat their own wounds and those of others. They modify sticks, rocks, grass and leaves and use them when foraging for termites and ants, nuts, honey, algae or water.
Chimpanzees have the widest range of any great ape. They are highly social, They live in communities of several dozen animal, led by an alpha male and his coalition of male allies. They care for their offsprings for years.
They usually sleep in trees and build themselves nests of leaves. They never use the same nest more than once.
Their conservation status is endangered. Deforestation, poaching as a bush meat, selling babies as pets and diseases are major threats for chimpanzees.
– Source: Internet –