Chimpanzee

The common chimpanzee is the closest animal relative to humans. Male chimps grow up to 5 1/2 feet and weigh up to 200 pounds, with females being slightly smaller.  Chimpanzees are comfortable walking quadrupedally on the ground in addition to climbing in trees.  Like all the great apes, the arms of the chimpanzee are longer than its legs. Though they can stand upright, they usually use their arms as legs, a characteristic known as knuckle walking. The natural habitat of chimpanzees includes both tropical forests and bordering savannas.

Chimps are intelligent animals with generally pleasant personalities.  However, the males are less peaceful than the smaller females.  This behavior difference is typical of most primate species, including humans.  The chimpanzee diet is usually at least 90% vegetarian.  Males are more likely to eat meat than are females, although chimp hunting skills are relatively poor.

Chimpanzees live in fluid societies of 10-50 individuals without monogamous mating bonds.  Membership changes through time as females move from one community to another apparently seeking new mates.  In contrast, males usually stay together in their natal community throughout their lives and act as a group in defending the food resources of their territory against incursions by other chimpanzee communities.  These interactions can be quite noisy, violent, and sometimes fatal.