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Animal profile

Chimpanzee

Pan troglodytes

MammaliaTropical moist forest, forest-savannah mosaic and woodlandEndangered

Field profile

The chimpanzee is a large, knuckle-walking African ape that lives in fission-fusion communities of a few dozen to more than a hundred individuals. Groups split into small parties by day and rejoin at fruiting trees. Populations differ markedly in the tools they make and the gestures they use.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2026-07-31

Chimpanzee

Chimpanzee nut-cracking takes years to learn

In the Taï Forest of Côte d'Ivoire, chimpanzees crack armoured nuts with stone and wooden hammers. Infants watch and fumble for years before they succeed, and whole populations living beside the same nuts and the same stones never crack them at all.

Read with evidence →

Chimpanzee | Daily Animal Facts