The chimpanzee is a highly intelligent and social mammal. It communicates using hand gestures, vocalization and facial expression and lives in groups of 15-80 animals. It is not necessarily the largest male that dominates the group, but rather the males that are able to recruit the most allies.
Their habitat is in the tropical forests and woody savannas of Africa, from Gambia to Uganda.
Brief Overview of the Chimpanzee
The chimpanzee diet consists of fruits, leaves, flowers, insects, bark and animals. Like humans, chimpanzees prefer ripe fruit because ripe fruit has a high concentration of sugar.
Chimpanzees are tool users and will function a probe out of a stick and use it to gather termites by inserting the probe into the termite nest. Once the termites crawl onto the stick in an attempt to protect their nest, the chimpanzee removes the probe and eats the insects.
Current Taxonomy of Chimpanzee:
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Primates
- Family: Hominidae
- Genus: Pan
- Species: P.troglodytes
Aggressive Gang Behaviour in Chimpanzees
Chimpanzees along with humans are the only species in which males group together and assault other groups or individuals, and then return home. Humans have shown tribal tendency (support for one's own group and antipathy for others) in regards to sporting teams and clubs and more seriously with examples of genocide and war.
Chimpanzee males will cooperate with each other, leave their home turf to assault members from other groups and then go home once the attack is over.
Sexual Behaviour of the Chimpanzee
Sexual maturity for female chimpanzees is 13 years and for males it is 15 years. Chimpanzees can live for up to 60 years. Adults grow to 1-1.7 meters (3.25 –5.5 foot) tall and weigh 26-70 kg (57-154 pounds).
Sexual conflict occurs in some species and can involve injury or death of the female. Chimpanzees are one species whose males have been known to kill the females while trying to force them into sex. Often the males will harass the females to mate.
It is not yet known why the males do this and why the females eventually give in. One theory put forth is that perhaps the females want to see if their potential mate is in good physiological shape and can therefore provide offspring with good genes. When chimpanzees do mate and breed, usually only a single chimpanzee is born every 3-6 years.
Resource and further reading:
Alcock, J, 2005, ‘The Evolution of Reproductive Behaviour’ & “The Evolution of Human Behaviour’ in Animal Behaviour, 8th edition, ed. Sinauer Associates Inc., Massachusetts, chapters 10 & 14.
Roberta Goli - Roberta has a Bachelor of Science Degree (Zoology), has worked with animals for over 10 years and enjoys writing short stories and flash ...
