Round-the-clock infant care for a year. Nursing for up to five. An intense, time-consuming relationship that lasts more than a decade.

Sound familiar? Like human moms, chimpanzees pour immense resources into raising their offspring into healthy adults, which can live up to 40 years in the wild. Though chimp communities—which range from Uganda’s tropical rainforests to Tanzania’s savanna woodlands—are diverse, with their own quirks and behaviors, they all share the same foundation: Powerful bonds between moms and young.

In recent years, new research has brought chimpanzee motherhood into clearer focus, while also providing valuable information about this endangered species. (Read how animal mothers remind us a lot of our own.)

Due to habitat destruction, hunting,