page_title: Chimpanzee
section_title: Mortality and health
hierarchical_section_title: Chimpanzee / Ecology / Mortality and health
caption_attribution_description: English: Chimpanzee named "Gregoire" born in 1944 (Jane Goodall sanctuary of Tchimpounga in Congo Brazzaville) - Picture taken the 9th of December 2006 Français&#160;: Chimpanzé nommé "Grégoire" né en 1944 (sanctuaire Jane Goodall de Tchimpounga au Congo Brazzaville) - Photo prise le 9 décembre 2006
context_page_description: The chimpanzee, also known as the common chimpanzee, robust chimpanzee, or simply chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. The chimpanzee and the closely related bonobo are classified in the genus Pan. Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing shows that Pan is a sister taxon to the human lineage and is humans' closest living relative.
  The chimpanzee is covered in coarse black hair, but has a bare face, fingers, toes, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. It is larger and more robust than the bonobo, weighing 40–70 kg for males and 27–50 kg for females and standing 100 to 150 cm. Its gestation period is eight months. The infant is weaned at about three years old, but usually maintains a close relationship with its mother for several years more. The chimpanzee lives in groups that range in size from 15 to 150 members, although individuals travel and forage in much smaller groups during the day. The species lives in a strict male-dominated hierarchy, where disputes are generally settled without the need for violence.
context_section_description: The average lifespan of a chimpanzee in the wild is relatively short, usually less than 15 years, although individuals that reach 12 years may live an additional 15. Wild individuals may live over 25 years and on rare occasions, around 60 years. Captive chimps tend to live longer, with average lifespans of 31.7 years for males and 38.7 years for females; the oldest known captive chimp to have been documented lived to 63 years.
  Leopards prey on chimpanzees in some areas. It is possible that much of the mortality caused by leopards can be attributed to individuals that have specialised in chimp-killing. Chimps may react to a leopard's presence with loud vocalising, branch shaking and throwing objects. There is at least one record of chimps killing a leopard cub, after mobbing it and its mother in their den. Four chimpanzees could have fallen prey to lions at Mahale Mountains National Park. Although no other instances of lion predation on chimpanzees have been recorded, lions likely do kill chimps occasionally and the larger group sizes of savanna chimps may have developed as a response to threats from these big cats. Chimps may react to lions by fleeing up trees, vocalising or hiding in silence.
  Chimps and humans share only 50% of their parasite and microbe species. This is due to the differences in environmental and dietary adaptations; human internal parasite species overlap more with omnivorous, savanna-dwelling baboons. The chimpanzee is host to the louse species Pediculus schaeffi, a close relative of P. humanus which infests human head and body hair. By contrast, the human pubic louse Pthirus pubis is closely related to Pthirus gorillae which infests gorillas. A 2017 study of gastrointestinal parasites of wild chimps in degraded forest in Uganda found nine species of protozoa, five nematodes, one cestode, and one trematode. The most prevalent species was the protozoan Troglodytella abrassarti.
caption: Chimpanzee named "Gregoire" on 9 December 2006, born in 1944 (Jane Goodall sanctuary of Tchimpounga, Republic of the Congo)
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