Chimpanzee animal description. The anthropoid ape chimpanzee. Person's closest relatives

In the wild, chimpanzees live in South West Africa (Republic of Guinea) and in Central Africa(Belgian Congo). According to the descriptions of Nissen, who observed the lifestyle of chimpanzees in the area of ​​the French scientific research station"Pastoria", the nature there is exceptionally picturesque and diverse. Dense forest thickets interspersed with open hilly clearings covered with tall grass.

Panthers hide in the thickets and wild cats, huge buffaloes and wild boars rush, breaking their way through the thicket of the forest, numerous herds of baboons roam, deer and antelopes run through in search of new pastures; green monkeys jump through the trees; on the ground, rustling with long needles, porcupines make their way, hissing crawl giant snakes, every minute ready to curl up and jump up to catch and squeeze the victim in their vise. In the shallow rivers that cut here and there, crocodiles lie motionless on the water. Flocks of birds fly in the air, countless insects flash and chirp.

But when night comes, black, warm, humid tropical night, then all living things calm down, rest, calm down, but do not freeze at all. Here and there, against the background of the sounds made by various animals, single cries of a chimpanzee are occasionally heard.

Shortly before sunrise, these cries become more frequent and more audible. With the first glimpses of daylight, the black "four-armed" inhabitants of the forest wake up, they stand up on their night beds-nests located in the forks of trees and carefully look around. Seeing their relatives on numerous adjacent trees, also sitting in nests, they announce the neighborhood with thunderous booming grunting sounds, heard for 10 km or more. Vocalization lasts from half a minute to half an hour. Then the chimpanzees are taken to the food.

If the tree on which the nests are located contains edible stems, leaves, flowers or fruits (especially the favored fruit of Naray), then the chimpanzee will begin to eat them while remaining on the same tree.

For the first half an hour, they greedily consume food, often swallowing inedible parts (seeds, grains, nut shells), but as they are saturated, they become more and more picky.

Without leaving the tree, the chimpanzee most often grabs the edible fruit with his free - sometimes right, sometimes left - hand and brings it to his mouth. To reach a high-lying fruit, the monkey draws a branch, bringing the fruit directly to the mouth and biting it off. A chimpanzee was once observed eating plums while hanging upside down from a tree.

Depending on the quality of the fruit, the chimpanzee swallows some of them whole, chews others well, and processes others by removing the outer skin and eating only the contents. But there are fruits, inside of which there are both edible and inedible parts; the first chimpanzee eats, the last - throws out. In some cases, the processing (for example, peeling) is done by the monkey so carefully that the removed skin does not break off in shreds, but retains the configuration of the fetus. Monkeys squeeze juice from some fruits. Nissen cites an observation of a female chimpanzee squeezing the juice of the Bomenti fruit into her baby's open mouth. This fact, according to Nissen, is also confirmed by the natives.

When looking for fruits on the same tree, the chimpanzee shows no order in his search: he is thrown from right to left, from the top to the bottom of the tree, from one branch to another.

The chimpanzee usually stays on the tree until all the fruit has been plucked. Then he moves to another tree or moves to a new place where there is more food. Sometimes, seeing fruits on adjacent trees, the chimpanzee simply jumps from tree to tree (sometimes at high altitude), then descends to the lower branches, and then to the ground. You can often see how a chimpanzee, being 12 meters from the ground, clinging to a branch with his hands, swings, jumps forward and down to the ground, and then climbs onto the tree on which he noticed the fruits.

Some flowers are also edible to chimpanzees; he takes the opportunity to catch with his hand and eat an insect flying nearby (beetle, dragonfly, butterfly), or climb into a bird's nest and drink bird eggs, or climb into a hollow and feast on sweet honey, which he eats especially willingly.

From thick tree trunks, the chimpanzee climbs head up, from thin tree trunks head down. In general, a chimpanzee climbs a tree more easily than climbs down. Rarely, he moves through the trees in a horizontal position, using four limbs.

Food around is in abundance, it is extremely diverse in appearance, color, shape, size, texture, taste and smell.

Fruits are most often bright and dark green, brown, orange, yellow, less often red, light purple, black. The shape of the fruits is also varied: often the fruits are spherical, less often in the form of
de pods (Dundrch, Foray, Bonkwey); heart-shaped fruits (Naray) come across; disc-shaped, lemon-shaped (Soujinyeh), oval (Gerenyi), in the form of clusters of berries (Mowkch).

As the sun rises higher and higher, the chimps leave the treetops and head to more shaded areas to forage on the ground.

There are cases when chimpanzees, embarking on a further journey in a group, starting from a feeding place, break or pluck branches with fruits and drag them along, eating the fruits along the way. Often a broken branch with fruits is thrown to the ground; it is possible that, having tasted the fruits, chimpanzees reject them as inedible. The favorite food of the chimpanzee (Troglodytes Schweinfurtii) is the large, round, head-sized, brown fruits of a huge tree from the breadfruit family (Treculia). This fruit contains about a thousand bean-sized seeds, and the monkey carries it off on its head, straightening up and standing on its feet, walking upright like a man.

According to the observations of the natives, chimpanzees sometimes dig up wild sweet potatoes and the roots of certain plants from the ground.

Digging up roots in a summer drought, after the disappearance of greenery, was also observed in Tenerife chimpanzees. It is characteristic that they dug the earth not only with their hands, but even with a stick taken in hand, with which they dug the earth to a much greater depth than when they dug it with their hands.

Slowly, with stops, a group of chimpanzees (from 4 to 14 individuals) moves from place to place during the day, usually including several adult males, females, adolescents and very young cubs.

The largest animal (male or female) is at the head of the group, teenagers run near the mother, babies hang under the mother’s breasts, and older babies sit astride her back, tenaciously holding onto the wool with their hands.

The procession of the group is sometimes carried out randomly, but in one direction, and the appearance of one animal after another can be separated by a 5-10-15-minute time interval. Sometimes a group of chimpanzees (6 individuals) walk in single file at a short distance from each other.

Usually chimpanzees move on all fours with a slow, measured, rhythmic gait, with stops, making about 7-10 km per day, wandering mainly during the day. They sometimes migrate hundreds of miles.

There is a great alertness of the chimpanzee, especially the leader, during movement. Hearing or seeing a suspicious object or person in the bushes, the leader immediately looks in the direction of danger; after him, other chimpanzees begin to look in the same direction. It was once observed that a female chimpanzee with two babies, when looking at distant people, moved her head up and down, left and right, in order to better examine them; she went away, reappeared and peered intently into the distance.

The people who watched natural life chimpanzees emphasize that the chimpanzee is curious. Having discovered the danger, the chimpanzee often does not hide from it, but begins to examine the object that inspired fear. Nissen testifies to this: “The chimpanzee sitting on the ground looked intently in my direction, ... in order to get a better look at me, he moved up and down, to the right and left, and even moved a few sagging branches that blocked his view. He disappeared and after 1-2 minutes appeared and looked again ... ". And another case. The huge black chimpanzee “looked at us first from one place, then from another, about 5 m away. He moved on all fours, but when he looked, he straightened up, holding his hand on a tree trunk or a branch hanging above. Four or five times he stepped back and then disappeared.” From these descriptions it is clear how strong the orienting response of the chimpanzee is.

Chimpanzees are very sociable creatures. He, apparently, is afraid to be left alone, to break away from his herd. In the wild, a case was recorded when one female chimpanzee, lagging behind the general procession, uttered plaintive, screaming, groaning cries, and at that time she hit the tree with her hand (from 1 to 3 times), and once, when she screamed especially irritably, she suddenly grabbed hanging above the branch and pulled it up and down several times. No less interesting is another case when a chimpanzee, who was in a state of excitement, grabbed the fruits of a tree and tore them off.

The time before noon is spent by chimpanzees in transitions, search and consumption of food. But the hotter the day gets, the more the monkeys are drawn to rest, as they cannot stand the heat and try to hide from it. The onset of the scorching heat stops the movement of the monkeys. Usually they approach the edge of the forest, where they settle down for rest or sleep on branches or forks in the shade of trees, or settle on the ground in day nests, the so-called day beds.

These beds are patches of soil that chimpanzees cover with thickets of grass, downed small shrubs, very young trees, or leafy branches of broken nearby trees. Sometimes small trees hang over these areas, bent by monkeys so that a semblance of an umbrella or canopy is formed. Sometimes these umbrellas are made by monkeys weaving young shoots growing nearby to shade the "day beds" underneath. Sometimes these diurnal nests are located in naturally shaded areas of the forest. On sites (about 7-8 m in size), which serve as daytime nests for monkeys, the grass is usually very flattened. Adult animals during rest hours most often sleep, young ones spend time in games.

Straw chimpaze nest at the zoo. Photo: Martin Pettitt

The play of young animals is, first of all, a manifestation of the most diverse physical activity: climbing trees, running, galloping on the ground, jumping from branch to branch and from tree to ground, swinging on branches, rolling on the ground. Grown up cubs play catch and attack. The game usually involves no more than two partners, approximately six years of age. To call for a response, chimpanzees push, tickle a partner with their hands or feet and immediately run away with lightning speed. Sometimes in the midst of a game, babies try to bite each other. At the same time, they scream, perhaps in pain or fear. The game of young people can last up to 20 minutes; usually the game is shorter and lasts 3-4 minutes.

As an exception, cases of chimpanzees playing with objects were observed. Thus, for example, a six-year-old chimpanzee was once seen sitting in front of a stream and slapping the water with his hand; in another case, a chimpanzee, sitting in front of slowly flowing water and looking into it, grimaced and tossed his head.

In Nissen's descriptions, one remarkable case is given when two chimpanzee teenagers (5-8 years old) played around a pile of leafy branches. They rode on it, after a while they retreated a short distance and then again ran back to this pile and rushed at it. This went on for about 2 minutes; the object of the game turned out to be a sort of upside-down basket made of dense woody rubber vines. These vines were intertwined. It is possible, as Nissen thinks, that "this basket was originally designed by monkeys in the form of a 'solar umbrella' and later used as an object of play." The author excludes its manufacture by a human. decreases; adult, sexually mature chimpanzees usually do not play.

As the heat subsides, chimpanzees become active again and go on new searches for food. Typically, chimpanzees feed regularly in the early morning and late evening; at other times of the day they eat at indefinite intervals.

Shortly before sunset, the chimpanzees prepare for their night's rest. They settle down for the night and start building nests where twilight catches them. At this time, they often make moaning sounds in chorus until sunset. Usually one chimpanzee starts; others later join him.

Adult chimpanzees usually build nests; the calf is placed in the same nest as the mother, who builds a larger nest than solitary nesting chimpanzees. Juveniles begin independent nest building when they stop sleeping with their mother. It is known that babies live with their mother from the day they are born and up to 3-9 years.

Before starting to build nests, the members of the group walk through the forest, looking up, as if looking for trees that are most suitable for nest building. Usually, they choose trees that have forks perpendicular to the main trunk of the tree. If the nests are located in dense valley forests, then they are completely hidden from the observer. On sparsely wooded hills they are more visible. The nests of each family of chimpanzees are usually located on neighboring trees, spaced one from the other no further than 60 m. One tree has an average of 1, 2, 3 nests located at a height of 2 to 16 m, but up to 13 nests can fit chimpanzee.

Trees of various kinds are used to build nests, but each nest is built from the branches of the tree on which it is located.

The foliage of nesting trees is different: the leaves are either wide or needle-like, resembling the needles of our coniferous plants (pines or spruces), and sometimes contain edible fruits (Naray, Gerenii, etc.). Palm trees are never used for building nests.

Chimpanzees, having climbed a tree, usually begin to make a nest at a level of 4 to 34 m from the ground. When building a nest, he stands in the middle of the base of the nest and takes out tree branches from one side or the other, tilting them towards him; at the same time, the monkey's foot holds the branches in place and participates in the rough process of braiding them from above. From below, the nest is never braided. The movements of a chimpanzee when building a nest are fast, but unhurried. Usually the entire building is completed in 2-3 minutes, but sometimes the nest-building can last up to 25 minutes if the chimpanzee is distracted by food, communication with relatives, etc.

Chimpanzee nest oval, concave with inside; it measures 47.5 x 57.5 cm and is 17.5 cm deep; it is built symmetrically and is open at the top. The supporting part of the nest is formed by the main horizontal fork of the tree, on which broken branches of the same tree are piled up and down, quite thick (up to 2 inches), although the thickness of the branches may vary.

Some of the branches that make up the support of the nest are intertwined by the chimpanzee, which ensures better adhesion of the parts and the strength of the nest. Elastic branches of a chimpanzee do not break, but only bend. Inner surface the nest is lined with broken apical shoots of a tree, and the recessed cavity of the nest is abundantly stuffed with leaves of the same tree; the leaves form a soft lining of the nest, providing comfort to the monkey while sitting or lying in the nest.

Above most of the nests there is free air space. This makes it possible for the chimpanzee in the nest to survey the area and in a timely manner to detect everything suspicious and threatening to him.

A chimpanzee usually only uses the nest for one night. However, there is evidence that when returning to the same sites, chimpanzees may re-occupy old nests.

Often when reuse nests, the monkey has to renovate it, since usually on the fourth or fifth day the nest begins to deteriorate badly. In these cases, the chimpanzee additionally lines the nest with fresh soft material, which gives more heat and makes less noise when the monkey moves in the nest. Having built a nest, the chimpanzee settles in it for the night and stays in it until the morning.

Given the right conditions, chimpanzees build nests in trees and in captivity. Köhler reports that if a tree with foliage is placed on the site where the animals are located, then the preparation of the nest begins in a few moments. Little chimpanzee Coco was still poorly able to climb a tree, but when he managed to climb at least 3 m, he bent the branches and immediately built a nest. Other adult chimpanzees made nests on the ground from a variety of objects.

Nest building in trees was a favorite activity of the young male Chimpanzee Chimpanzee. But the young female chimpanzee Panzi did not build nests in trees; she occasionally made only initial attempts to build a nest on the ground.

Chim has occasionally successfully built several tree nests in New Hampshire. He climbed a tree, pulled twigs and branches towards him within their reach and, pulling them up, folded them under him, broke the small branches nearby and threw them on the nest. Within 5 or 10 min. Chim built a nest of branches and covered them with leaves; the nest was located at a level of 3-4.5 m from the ground; it was comfortable and strong enough to hold a chimpanzee seated in it. Having made a nest, Chim used it for a short time, after which he turned to other activities. The chimpanzee never made a roof over the nest and did not try to cover itself with branches or leaves while lying in the nest (as orangs usually do). He was more concerned with the construction process than with the use of the nest, rarely reusing already built nests. Chim clearly preferred to make new nests in a new place. On the ground or indoors, Chim could construct nests from almost any suitable material, even from a rug that he pulled up and folded.

The chimpanzee female Panzi once or twice climbed a tree and looked at the nest built by Chim, or lay in it.

During field observation of the life of a chimpanzee in the wild, some of its characteristic psychological features are noted.

IN open places where the chimpanzee is less protected than in the forest, he develops fear. Chimpanzees, for example, have been observed to retreat when a group of marmosets approaches. Nissen cites a case in which a female chimpanzee was frightened by a large bird flying over her, circling over a tree, under which, apparently, there was a baby monkey. Sensing danger, the female with the baby looked around and changed her position, while her lips quivered. The chimpanzee exhibits fear of the human, especially when the human is walking towards the chimpanzee.

Numerous examples testify to the observation of the chimpanzee, his caution and vigilance. So, for example, a chimpanzee easily notices every extraneous, especially artificial, object that appears against the background of his usual natural landscape.

In addition, he notices both the attention of a person specially directed to him, and the presence of a person in general. In the first case, he tries to hide, in the second he remains calm.

Nissen carried out the following experiment: a group of expedition members who made their way through the forest where chimpanzees were found were asked to alternately not look at the chimpanzees, then pay attention to them. As a result of the observation, it turned out that in the first case “some animals descended from the trees, but most remained where they were; in the second case, all the chimpanzees immediately took off 18 from their place and disappeared.

A chimpanzee does not attack a person himself, but when a person attacks him, he defends himself fiercely. As Juncker writes, “chimpanzee hunting is easy and convenient once you first find their hiding place. They move in the trees with measured steps and discretion, so that they cannot get away from a hunter with a good gun, like monkeys of other breeds, for example, the dexterous Colobus jumper, which, above, in a leafy crown, runs from one tree to another faster than a hunter below can follow him into the dense bush. The chimpanzee, on the contrary, tries to hide and, in order to continue the journey, descends to the ground, where it can easily escape in the forest growth. The adult chimpanzee even fights there; his strength is great, he has powerful jaws, so in single combat he is a dangerous opponent ... The strength of even a young chimpanzee is amazing. I could hardly once snatch a stick from the paws of a half-adult animal. The baby is already so tightly wrapped around his finger with his paws that a certain effort is required to free him.

But the chimpanzee is able to get used to the presence of a person and to other phenomena that previously frightened him. Nissen cites a case in which a group of chimpanzees were feeding at a distance of 76 m from a place where several native women were noisily washing clothes, talking and laughing. Chimpanzees were not afraid of the noise and whistle of the locomotive, building nests even close to (100 English yards) from the railway tracks.

The most important factor that ensures the survival of chimpanzees is their gregariousness. The strongest animal - the leader - takes care of the protection of the entire herd. He is always ahead of everyone, the first to come to the rescue of the weak and the kids in trouble, and often with danger to his life goes to a suspicious place in order to save the lagging cubs. Cases of transfer from place to place of weak individuals by healthy monkeys are described.

In life in the wild, the relationship of the members of the chimpanzee herd is closely related to their ability to produce a variety of sounds that play the role of signals (voice, vibratory, tapping), as well as to use facial movements and gestures. The rich facial expressions of a chimpanzee express the subtle nuances of his emotional states associated with sexual moments, with the manifestation of family and parental feelings in both the female and the male. These senses are highly developed in chimpanzees. Juncker vividly describes the behavior of a female guarding her cub in danger.

“First I made my way through the endless bushes, then the vaulted crowns of huge trees appeared above us. Meanwhile, some people were watching the movement of the animals and greeted me with exclamations: Over there! Chimpanzee! But the tree was so tall that I did not immediately notice one animal moving in the deciduous thicket ... the chimpanzee left its place, and I clearly saw how the cub wrapped it around its chest. The female hurriedly looked for a sheltered place and, protecting the cub with her body, hid in the fork of two powerful branches. Only the fifth bullet knocked her down, despite the fact that I later found several severe bullet wounds on her. In the end, the old female instinctively drove the cub away from her, so that he remained unharmed on the top of the tree.

Nissen cites a case of selflessness of a male who saved his little cub. A family group of chimpanzees (3-4 individuals), passing in one direction, apparently noticed the observer, as some of the monkeys began to look at him; from time to time they stopped, and then moved on. Then, as the author writes, “an exciting moment came: a large, well-built male, the largest I have ever seen, stopped, looked around and, leaning his hands on the rock, remained in an upright position for about two minutes. He looked at me insistently, without signs of fear. Again and again he looked in the direction from which the animals had come and gone. There was no excitement; he was gigantic, white-faced, silent. Suddenly, and without warning, he walked on all fours straight towards me: I thought it best to crouch on the ground; 9 meters away from me, he stopped, grabbed something and ran back sideways along the inclined plane. He was carrying a baby chimpanzee (maybe three years old). When he got closer to the top of the small valley, 7 meters from where he had stood before, he sat down with his back against a tree, facing me. He held the young animal in front of him between his legs.

The big male was clearly breathing heavily ... I think what happened was the following: the young animal took a course towards me (from west to southwest), I did not see him, and he did not see me, but the old male saw both of us and noticed that the baby is walking in the direction of danger. To save the baby, perhaps a son or daughter, he went down at the risk to himself. Remarkably, he did not issue any warning signal. I did not hear any vocalization or other sounds produced by any animal during the entire period of observation” 2 .

Already from the above descriptions, it is clear how quickly, under the conditions of life in the wild, a chimpanzee manifests a quick orientation in difficult situations and how highly developed his adaptability to the environment.

To complete the review of the life of a chimpanzee in natural conditions, we will mention the sounds made by chimpanzees and the ways they communicate with their own kind.

1. the sound of excitement or gasping scream;

2. cry of fear, pain;

3. barking, similar to the barking of dogs, as an expression of anger and irritation;

4. crying, whimpering;

5. Grunting when eating food is a sign of satisfaction.

When analyzing the sounds made by chimpanzees, we established their finer gradations, distinguishing 23 natural sounds.

According to Nissen, in chimpanzees, 12 periods of sound activity can be noted during the day, each of which lasts from 0.5 minutes. up to 0.5 hours.

With the onset of twilight, as at night, the chimpanzee rarely makes sounds. Based on observations made with chimpanzees in the wild, Nissen notes that they have three modes of communication:

1. visual - through gestures;

2. tactile - by direct contact of one animal with another;

3. vibratory - by tapping on thick tree trunks and on the ground.

Nissen draws attention to the fact that a person can barely distinguish this last sound at a distance of 15 m, and argues that this sound is a communicative danger signal. Judging by our observations on young chimpanzees, sometimes such tapping is a manifestation of the playfulness of the chimpanzee and, perhaps, expresses a state of joyful excitement at moments of a kind of discharge of accumulated muscle energy. So, for example, our chimpanzee Ioni sharply knocked the knuckles of the fingers of one hand on hard objects, defiantly looking at the person, and after that he playfully jumped on him, then rushed past him.

It is important to note that in natural conditions, chimpanzees are surrounded by a rich flora, colorful and diverse with an abundance of food of various types, colors, shapes, external and internal structures. Associated with this are broad possibilities for the emergence of a selective attitude of chimpanzees to the richest assortment of plants.

The vigilance of a chimpanzee is combined with greater observation and the ability to distinguish the fine details of objects. Diverse stimuli environment attract the attention of chimpanzees, arouse their curiosity even in captivity, which was repeatedly emphasized by IP Pavlov when he observed the free behavior of these monkeys and their handling of new objects. In addition, it should be emphasized that for monkeys, to a greater extent than for other mammals, physical properties objects: color, shape, size, density, weight, surface structure, mobility of parts, while in the object analysis of many other animals, the analysis of chemical properties is of great importance: smell, taste, etc.

The migration of a chimpanzee from place to place presupposes the enormous mobility of the animal itself, its great motor activity. Recall the chimpanzee's ability for a variety of movements: running, walking, galloping, climbing, swinging, hanging, jumping, stomping, tumbling, etc. The migration of a chimpanzee also gives him the opportunity to meet with a variety of living inhabitants of the forest.

A study of the lifestyle of chimpanzees in the wild shows how vigilant and wary they are when moving, avoiding animals and humans that are dangerous to them.

The way of life of a chimpanzee makes particularly high demands on the sense organs and, therefore, contributes to the development of various analyzers, primarily visual and auditory, signaling danger. On the basis of highly developed sensory differentiations, more complex forms of chimpanzee mental activity are formed. In this activity, analyzers of chimpanzees play a huge role, to the consideration of which we now turn.

great ape chimpanzee is an amazing representative of the animal world. One can argue for a long time about Darwin's theory and our relationship with these primates, but the fact remains that we are very similar.

The common chimpanzee and bonobo chimpanzee are classified in the genus of great apes, as are gorillas and orangutans. The common chimpanzee is often referred to simply as "chimpanzee" and the bonobo is often referred to as the pygmy chimpanzee.

External features of the anthropoid chimpanzee

Despite the different names, both species are incredibly similar to each other. It's just that the pygmy chimpanzee is much slimmer than its relative. The large cranium contains a brain that is half the size of a human. strong jaws protrude forward, there are sharp fangs. The nose is flat and rather small. Superciliary ridges and auricles are well developed. The fore and hind limbs are almost the same in length, on each paw thumb is located separately from the rest, which allows the animal to deftly handle small objects. Chimpanzees, like humans, can be distinguished by individual skin prints on the fingers and palms.

Despite their small stature, these monkeys are very strong physically, their muscles are well developed. The entire body, except for the face, palms and feet, is covered with thick hair. Sexual differences are visible due to the difference in size, males with a height of 1.5 meters can weigh up to 70 kilograms, females up to 50, and most often with a maximum height of 1.3 meters. Chimpanzees also have blood types, like humans, and their genome matches the human genome by almost 99%.

Where and how do chimpanzees live

Chimpanzees inhabit the savannas and rainforests of Central and West Africa, bonobos live only in the rainforests of Central Africa.

Listen to the voice of a chimpanzee

Each of these species lives in groups of up to 30 individuals. Not always the strongest, but always the most cunning male becomes the leader of the group. He supports friendly relations with several males, so that they, in case of danger, stood up for him. The leader keeps the rest of the males in fear, he may even attack them. When the leader becomes old, or does not cope well with his "duties of commander", he is replaced by a younger, more worthy candidate. The position of females in the group is also divided into ranks, but it is determined solely by the amount of attention that males provide. Leading females get the most delicious treats, and during the mating season they have more suitors than the rest.

Bonobo groups are almost the same in structure, except that the female is the leader. And they are not aggressive, since any conflict or just an unpleasant situation is solved by mating.
In general, chimpanzees are quick to remember, easy to learn, and very smart. At a primitive level, they have abstract concepts of emotions.

What's for dinner at the great apes?

Chimpanzees are so omnivorous that they can even eat their own relatives! They often hunt monkeys and colobuses. But most often in the diet there are eggs of birds, plants, fruits, honey, insects. Occasionally they can eat fish or shellfish.

The breeding season of chimpanzees

Chimpanzees do not have a specific breeding season. This factor depends mainly only on the physical condition and age of the individuals. Pregnancy lasts 7-8 months, then only one cub is born. Juveniles have a light, pinkish flesh color that darkens with age. Sexual maturity occurs at 14 years of age. Under natural conditions, primates can live up to 45 years, and in a zoo up to 60. Chimpanzees, like people, turn gray in old age.

Monkeys are called four-armed mammals for a reason. Most representatives of this species live in the crowns of trees, deftly moving from branch to branch. In dense equatorial forests there are primates that never come down to earth. For example, the royal Gverets, who live in Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia, spend their whole lives in the crowns of trees. They are excellent jumpers and cover great distances jumping from branch to branch.

Monkeys of large and medium size often descend from trees to the ground. Some, such as baboons, live exclusively on the ground, completely ignoring trees. They are going to large groups and, moving together, are able to withstand even such large predators like leopards and lions.

Most monkeys live in warm climates and do not tolerate cold well. However, some species have adapted to living in the cold. So, japanese macaques live on the northern island of Honshu, where the average winter temperature is -5oC, and the snow cover can lie up to four months a year. The bodies of these animals are covered with thick and long hair, which reliably protects them from cold winds. In addition, snow macaques have learned to take advantage of the geological features of the Japanese islands - they spend most of their time basking in the water of hot springs. Also, some species of monkeys living in the mountains of China and South America successfully endure sub-zero temperatures.

Monkey habitat

Primates are mainly found in the tropics and subtropics of Africa, South America and South-East Asia. Africa is almost completely inhabited by various species of monkeys, excluding the Sahara desert. Among the many primates found on the continent, of particular interest are the large great apes: chimpanzees and gorillas. On the island of Madagascar, contrary to popular belief, there are no primates. But their more primitive "relatives" - lemurs - live here.

In Asia, the habitat of monkeys includes the entire Indo-Malay region, most of China, the south of the Korean Peninsula, numerous islands of the Indian and partly the Japanese islands. Orangutans, large great apes, are found in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

In South America, the greatest diversity of primate species occurs in the Amazon Basin. Here you can meet the smallest monkeys from the marmoset family. The forests of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela are also home to howler monkeys, saimiri, and various capuchin species.

In the language of the indigenous people of Africa - the Luba tribe - "chimpanzee" means "human-like". The veracity of this statement has been scientifically proven. Scientists estimate that the evolutionary paths of chimpanzees and humans diverged only 6 million years ago. And today it is the brightest and most amazing representative of the genus great primates, genetically and biochemically to Homo sapiens the closest. For example, the similarity between our DNA is almost 90%.

Description of the chimpanzee

But the "humanity" of chimpanzees is not limited to the similarity of DNA.

Appearance

Chimpanzees, like humans, have blood types and individual fingerprints.. They can be distinguished by them - the pattern never repeats. Chimpanzees are different in size from humans. The largest males do not exceed 1.5 meters in height. Females are even lower - 1.3 meters. But at the same time, chimpanzees are very strong physically and have well-developed muscles, which not every Homo sapiens can boast of.

The structure of the skull is distinguished by pronounced superciliary arches, a flat nose and a strongly protruding jaw armed with sharp teeth. The cranium is made by nature with a margin - the brain occupies only half of its volume. The fore and hind legs of chimpanzees are the same length. An outstanding feature of the structure of their paws is the thumb, which is located at a distance from the rest and allows the monkey to deftly manage small objects.

The entire body of a chimpanzee is covered with hair. Nature made an exception for the face, palms and soles of the monkey's feet. Adolescent chimpanzees have a small area of ​​white among their dark thick wool - in the area of ​​​​the coccyx. As the monkey matures, the hairs darken and turn brown. This feature allows chimpanzees to distinguish still children from adults and treat them accordingly. It has been noticed that monkeys with white "islands" on the coccyx get away with a lot, that is, from their paws. Adult primates do not punish them for pranks and do not require much. But as soon as the white hairs disappear, childhood ends.

Chimpanzee species

Chimpanzees belong to the genus of great apes and are relatives of gorillas and orangutans. There are two types of chimpanzee - the common chimpanzee and the bonobo chimpanzee. Bonobo is often referred to as the "pygmy chimpanzee", which is not entirely true. Bonobo is not a dwarf per se, just the structure of his body differs from an ordinary chimpanzee in great grace. Also, this species, the only one of the monkeys, has red lips, like a person.

The common chimpanzee has subspecies:

• black-faced or chimpanzee of which - differs in freckles on the face;
• western chimpanzee - has a black mask on the face in the shape of a butterfly;
• shveyfurtovsky - has two hallmarks: light complexion, acquiring a dirty shade with age, and longer hair than relatives.

Character and lifestyle

Chimpanzee is a social animallives in groups of up to 20-30 individuals. The male chimpanzee leads the group, the female leads the bonobos. The leader is not always the strongest primate of the group, but he must be the most cunning. He needs to be able to build relationships with relatives in such a way that they obey him. To do this, he chooses a company of close associates, such as guards, on whom he can rely in case of danger. The rest of the competing males are kept in fear of obedience.

When the leader “fails” due to old age or injury, a younger and more promising “commander” immediately takes his place. Females in the pack also obey a strict hierarchy. There are female leaders who are in a special position. Males pay increased attention to them, and this secures their status of being chosen. Such chimpanzees get the most tidbits and the most a large number of boyfriends during mating.

This is interesting! Bonobo, due to the lack of aggression in character, all conflicts within the group are resolved peacefully - by mating.

Female chimpanzees are considered to be more obedient, but less intelligent than males in training and training. But they express great affection for a person and do not harbor the threat of aggressive disobedience, unlike males, who are “led astray by the righteous” instinct of dominance. social image life facilitates the chimpanzee process of hunting, protecting offspring, helps to accumulate useful skills in the group. They learn a lot from each other while living together. Scientists have proven that lonely monkeys have reduced overall health indicators. Worse appetite than collective relatives, and slowed metabolism.

Chimpanzees - forest dwellers. They need trees. They build nests on them, find food, run away from the enemy, grabbing branches, from the enemy. But, with equal success, these monkeys also move on the ground, using all four paws. Upright walking, on two legs, is not typical for chimpanzees in the natural environment.

It has been observed that chimpanzees lose out to orangutans in tree climbing agility, but outperform gorillas in keeping their nests clean. The design of chimpanzee nests is not distinguished by elegance and is made unpretentiously - from branches and sticks, gathered together in a chaotic manner. Chimpanzees sleep only in nests, in trees - for safety reasons.

Chimpanzees know how to swim, but they don't like it. They generally prefer not to get wet unless absolutely necessary. Their main pastime is eating and relaxing. Everything is slow and measured. The only thing that breaks life harmony monkeys - the appearance of the enemy. In this case, the chimpanzees raise an unbelievable cry. Chimpanzees are capable of making up to 30 types of sounds, but they cannot reproduce human speech, since they “speak” on exhalation, and not on inhalation, like a person. Communication within the group is also aided by body language and body posture. There is also facial expressions. Chimpanzees can smile and change facial expressions.

Chimpanzees are smart animals. These monkeys are fast learners. Living with a person, they easily adopt his manners and habits, sometimes demonstrating amazing results. It is known that the sailor's monkey coped with the anchor and sails, was able to kindle the stove in the galley and keep the fire in it.

Living in a group, chimpanzees successfully share their experiences. The young learn from mature primates simply by observing their behavior and copying it. These monkeys in their natural habitat themselves thought of using sticks and stones as tools for obtaining food, and big leaves plants - like a scoop for water or an umbrella in case of rain, or a fan, or even toilet paper.

Chimpanzees are capable of admiring a flower that does not represent nutritional value, or a close examination of a crawling python.

This is interesting! Unlike humans, a chimpanzee will not destroy useless and harmless objects and living creatures for him, rather, on the contrary. Chimpanzees have been known to feed turtles. Just!

how long does a chimpanzee live

In the harsh environment of the wild, chimpanzees rarely live past 50 years of age. But in the zoo, under human supervision, this monkey is released up to 60 years.

Range, habitats

Chimpanzees are inhabitants of Central and West Africa. They choose tropical rainforests and mountain forests, with lots of vegetation. Today, bonobos can only be found in Central Africa - in the humid forests between the Congo and Lualaba rivers.

Populations of common chimpanzees have been registered in the territory of: Cameroon, Guinea, Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and a number of other states of equatorial Africa.

The common chimpanzee (lat. Pan troglodytes) is a large ape from the Hominidae family. The animal has a large set of means for transmitting information. Communication is carried out using a variety of signals based on gestures, sounds, body positions and movements, as well as an unusually rich facial expressions.

The name of the monkey comes from the word kivili-chimpanze, taken from the language of the African people Luba (Bantu group). It can be translated as a laughing or mocking person.

There is a widespread belief among Africans that chimpanzees abduct children and women. Adults often tell the younger generation about how vile these creatures behave and, for pedagogical purposes, clearly demonstrate their habits.

In European culture, the attitude towards Pan troglodytes is quite different. Representatives of this species are perceived as harmless and cheerful clowns, designed to amuse the audience with enthusiasm with their funny grimaces and antics.

Spreading

There are 4 subspecies. The nominate subspecies P.t. troglodytes was first described by the German anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in 1775 as Simia troglodytes. In his opinion, this primate resembled primitive people, which is why it was called a troglodyte. From the ancient Greek language τρωγλοδύτης is translated as "living in a cave."

This subspecies has characteristic freckles on the face on whitish skin, which becomes grayish as it matures. Freckles also increase in size. It lives in Central Africa in the basin of the Congo and Niger rivers.

The Schweinfurt chimpanzee (P.t. schweinfurthii) is found in Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria, the Ubangi and Luabala rivers. It is distinguished by relatively long hair and dirty-dark skin of the face.

The western chimpanzee (P.t. verus) is distributed in West Africa in Sierra Leone and Guinea east of the Niger River. His face is black, with lighter areas near the chin and around the eyebrows.

The Nigerian-Cameroonian chimpanzee (P.t. vellerosus) is the rarest, living on the border of Cameroon and Nigeria.

The entire habitat covers the space from Senegal and Mali to the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo. The primate shows adaptability to various environmental conditions and is observed in different biotopes. It is well adapted to life in jungles, dry savannahs, forests and wetlands. In the mountains it is observed at altitudes up to 2800 m above sea level.

Behavior

Monkeys are active during daylight hours. They arrange a rooming house on trees in nests constructed from branches and leaves 9-12 m above the ground. Each time it is transferred to a new place, and the nests are built anew. During the rainy season, primates can spend several days in a row in them, patiently waiting for the heavy rain to stop. They sleep on their side, curled up.

Animals form groups of 20-80 individuals, which break up into small groups to search for food during the day and again gather to spend the night together.

Adult chimpanzees often prefer to forage for their own food alone so as not to share the supplies they find with relatives. They only occasionally for a short time join the fickle small communities.

Large groups are managed and protected by strong and old males. They maintain a strict hierarchical structure in them, in every possible way showing their importance with the help of screams and aggressive behavior. The leaders shout loudly, drum on tree trunks, throw stones and branches, making quick runs and jumps. They spend a lot of time and energy to strengthen and constantly maintain their leadership. Leaders go to any tricks in order to extend their power. Being born politicians, they create temporary coalitions and widely use various kinds of bribes for potential electorate.

The cohesion of the herd is greatly helped by the mutual cleaning of the fur and the destruction of annoying insects. Males adore this procedure and willingly perform it on each other's body.

Females usually do not show much interest in social activities and do not apply for career growth in the table of ranks, although they exist. Ladies occupying a higher position differ from their lower comrades in that they give offspring much more often. This indifference to careerism is partly due to the fact that young females leave the mother group, while males remain and are forced to fight for their place in the sun.

War Monkeys, or the Gombe Stream War

Large groups of chimpanzees occupy fairly large home ranges. In forests, their area ranges from 5 to 40, and in savannas from 120 to 560 square kilometers. Their borders are constantly and very zealously patrolled by small detachments of young border guards. They vigilantly serve and attack any stranger in a crowd, demonstrating sadistic cruelty towards him. He is not only persecuted and expelled from the protected area, but also seriously injured. Border guards often maim and kill both same-sex individuals and unfertilized females.

Such aggressive behavior in the form of real hostilities is characteristic of humans and is not observed among other primates. IN national park Gombe Stream in Tanzania, between 1974 and 1978, there was an intermittent war between two groups of chimpanzees occupying the northern and southern parts of the territory. Initially, it was one team, divided into two warring camps for unknown reasons.

Observation civil war carried out and documented by the British researcher Valerie Jane Goodall. The forces of the southerners at the height of the fighting consisted of 6 adult males and 3 females with cubs. More numerous northerners were represented by 8 males and 12 females.

The beginning of irreconcilable enmity was the murder on January 7, 1974 by six northerners of a southerner named Godi, who peacefully dined on fruit on a tree. Further, the villains killed one female, beat two and took three by force with them. Soon they pushed the southerners south, taking away their best fruit trees.

In the future, hostilities took place with enviable regularity and varying success. Opponents used stones, branches and other improvised means in the fight against the enemy. In the end, the primates that suffered defeat at the beginning united with the third group and, by common efforts, recaptured the lost lands.

Chimpanzees and tools

Pan troglodytes has the ability to use various objects as tools. Clever monkeys make a kind of sponge from chewed leaves to extract the remaining rainwater from the hollow of a tree. They insert grass stalks into termite mounds and take out termites with their help, stones and thick branches are used as a hammer and anvil for breaking nuts. With gnarled sticks, primates bend branches to the ground like hooks to get to ripe fruits.

Stones and sticks are widely used for hunting and self-defense, which they sometimes sharpen on one side like spears. The use of a homemade spear is more typical of the anthropoids that live in the savannas.

It has been observed that they often store such weapons in certain places in case of unexpected aggression by hostile groups.

This behavior is not innate, but is acquired. Young people actively adopt useful skills from older comrades. Certain tools can be used in one population and be completely unfamiliar to even neighboring primates.

Nutrition

The chimpanzee is an ordinary omnivore, but the basis of its diet is food of plant origin. From 45 to 76% of the menu is occupied by fruits and nuts, leaves account for from 12 to 45%. The rest consists of flowers, seeds and insects.

From time to time, monkeys hunt small artiodactyls and primates such as red colobuses, galagos and even baboons. The extracted meat is divided by males into all members of the group according to their place in the social hierarchy and as gifts " the right people". A flexible approach to loot sharing allows hunters to manipulate public opinion. Meat is considered an exquisite delicacy among them, but its share in the diet does not exceed 2%. In one day, an adult animal usually eats it no more than 65-100 g. Ladies have much less passion for it than gentlemen.

reproduction

Common chimpanzees are able to breed at any time of the year. Estrus in females lasts 36 days, and estrus is about one week. They are able to become pregnant at the age of 5-6 years, but, as a rule, due to the established hierarchy in the herd, this does not happen before 13-14 years. Males become sexually mature at about 7 years old, but they are usually allowed to continue the genus only at 15-16 years old. Unlike humans and gorillas, there is no menopause in this species, so females are able to bring healthy offspring even in old age.

Sexual behavior can take the most various forms. Usually females mate with a large number of males, at the same time often formed couples, in which the happy head of the family protects his chosen one from ubiquitous competitors and does not pay attention to other charmers. Sometimes a couple in love leaves their native team for several days to enjoy happiness away from annoying relatives. It is also widespread to buy the location of a beauty in exchange for food.

Pregnancy lasts an average of 230 days. As a rule, one cub is born, twins are very rare. The weight of the newborn is approximately 1.9 kg. He spends the first six months on his mother's chest, firmly clutching her fur with his paws, and then he moves onto her back. Milk feeding continues up to 3.5-4.5 years, but then the baby often remains with the mother until the age of ten.

Description

The body length is 64-94 cm. The height on the hind limbs ranges from 100 to 170 cm. Males weigh 35-70 kg, and smaller females 26-50 kg. In captivity, many animals are prone to obesity and weigh more than 80 kg.

The fur is black or dark brown. The forelimbs are much longer than the hind limbs. The fingers are long, with the exception of the short thumb. On the feet, the big toe is opposed to the rest.

The face is devoid of vegetation. It is lighter than that of the bonobo (Pan paniscus) and becomes darker as it matures. Its color has regional differences. Round ears protruding to the sides are clearly visible on the sides of the head. The superciliary ridges are strongly developed, the muzzle protrudes noticeably forward. The fangs of males are larger than those of females.

The lifespan of a common chimpanzee wild nature 40-45 years old. Currently, all subspecies are under the threat of extinction. Their total number is estimated at 170-300 thousand individuals.