Pan troglodytes
The collective noun for a group Chimpanzees is a 'CARTLOAD'.
Chimps are omnivorous feeding mainly on nuts, seeds, fruit. They enjoy eating termites and will also prey and smaller animals such as antelope, baboons and monkeys.
Of all the creatures in the world besides man, the chimpanzee makes the most use of tools.
Chimpanzees display many gestures similar to human beings such as kissing, tickling, shaking hands, holding hands, patting on the back and will even laugh while playing.
In captivity Chimps have be taught to communicate though ASL (American sign language).
Adult chimpanzees are very powerful, averaging five times the strength of a human.
When threatened by a predators such as leopard, chimps have been know to use sticks and branches as weapons by throwing them at the predator.
In the early 1900's there was estimated as many as 2 million chimpanzees in the wild, today there are as few as 100 000 - 200 000 left over and still depleting.
In the wild their average lifespan is 40 - 50 years, in captivity they live up 60 years.
