The forest air is calm as a small group of chimpanzees forages for food in central Africa. Suddenly, the silence is broken as the chimps begin drumming on tree trunks and sending out a loud chorus of pant-hoots and food calls (a mix of grunts and barks) to other members of their community, some as far as two miles (three kilometers) away!
They have discovered a fig tree full of ripe fruit; soon large numbers of chimps gather excitedly around the fig tree and begin feasting. Chimpanzees are omnivores, meaning they eat both plants and animals—they feed on fruit, leaves, seeds, buds, bark, stems, insects, and occasionally the meat of small mammals such as young baboons.
Young chimpanzees learn from observing their mothers and other adults which foods are safe to eat and where ripe food is located. For the first few months of its life a baby chimp clings to the hair of its mother’s belly as she travels with it everywhere. After that, young chimpanzees will spend the next seven to ten years at their mothers’ sides learning how to groom, make nests in trees, find food, and use tools.
In the wild a chimpanzee may live to be 50 years old and weigh up to 121 pounds (55 kilograms). They live in Africa’s dense rain forests, open woodlands, and broad grasslands.
No other animal uses so many different objects as tools. For instance, chimps often fish for termites using a long piece of grass. The chimp sticks the grass into the entrance of a termite nest, wiggles it around, then slowly withdraws it—without losing any tasty termites clinging to the grass stem. In one quick swoop the chimp eats the insects. Chimpanzees also sometimes use stones and sticks as missiles or clubs, and in West Africa chimps use stones as hammers to open hard-shelled nuts.
Text by Michaela Ahern
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