|
|
|
| Sunday, 02 April 2006 |
 |
|
 |
Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Chimpanzees : Our closest relatives Both man and monkeys are classed as primates, one of the orders of mammals. And so, homosapiens, that is us, humans, have relatives in the animal world.
Do you know who our closest relatives are from among all the creatures of the wild? The Pan troglodytes or to put in non-scientific terms - the common chimpanzees. Scientific research has established the fact that humans and chimpanzees share some of the biochemical characteristics, and that the chimp's brain is more like the human's than that of any other creature. Now, isn't that amazing and interesting? It is therefore very important to learn about these wonderful creatures - our closest relatives, we often admire from behind iron bars in the zoological gardens, or in films and television programmes, where they are most often shown playing pranks at circuses or at some other entertainment show. In the wild, chimpanzees range across equatorial Africa - in fact, they are found in 21 African countries including French Guinea, Zaire, Uganda and Tanzania. They prefer dense, tropical rainforests, but they are also found in secondary growth forests, bamboo forests, woodlands, swamps and even the open savannah. These intelligent creatures live in social groups. The young chimps live with their families for long years, learning all the necessary skills of survival from the adults. The chimpanzees form life-long relationships and even suffer from depression when separated from loved ones. Even though they have brains similar to ours, they don't have vocal cords to communicate the way we do.
So, how do you think they communicate? By making a vast range of sounds and through body language. In captivity, the chimps have displayed numerical skills, including counting abilities, comprehension of American Sign Language and graphic symbols. Chimps are probably the most expressive of all animals. They are also adept at making and using various tools to get their work done, and many tools they use have already been documented. Chimpanzees are quadrupedal, which means that they walk on all four limbs, supporting the front of the body on the knuckles of the fingers. But, they can walk bipedal (upright like us) for short distances.
Standing about four feet high, males weigh between 90-120 pounds. Females weigh less - between 60-110 pounds. The average chimp male is approximately four times stronger than the average human male! Thickset and robust (strong and sturdy in physique), but more lightly built than the gorilla, the chimps have strong bodies with long limbs. Their hands and feet are narrow and long with opposable thumbs on the hands and toes. Their arms which are powerful are longer than the legs. The colour of their hair and facial skin varies. Generally the bodies are covered with long, black hair and the faces are pinkish in colour, darkening in older individuals. The head which is round bears broad, prominent ears. Their eyes are expressive and lips are mobile and protrude. The soles of their feet are broad but toes are short. The face, palms and soles are not covered with hair. They have 16 teeth on the upper jaw and two of these are canine, four are incisor and those at the back are molars. The bottom jaw also has 16 teeth similar to the upper jaw. That's 32 teeth in all, like we humans have. More on chimps next week. ***** Fact file * Male chimps are fully grown at the age of 17 and females at the age of 19. * Chimpanzees rarely live past the age of 50 in the wild. However in captivity, they are known to have reached the age of 60.
* An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 chimpanzees remain in the world. Only three countries - Zaire, Gibon and Cote d' Ivoire count populations of more than 10,000 each. * There are four subspecies of the common chimpanzees and of these, the Bonobo or pygmy chimps are a distinct species with fewer than 15,000 left in the world. Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are the same height as common chimpanzees, but are more slightly built and have less hair too. These chimps stand upright more frequently than the common chimps. * Chimps are believed to share about 98 per cent of the human genes; the number and form of chromosomes, the blood proteins and immune responses, and also the structure of our DNA. * Primates, man's nearest relatives include gibbons, mandrills orang-utans, baboons, lemurs, gorillas and monkeys, apart from chimpanzees. **** Girls are smarter than boys! Well, you may or may not be surprised to learn that girls are smarter than boys in the chimp world. It has been observed by researchers that young girl chimpanzees are more adept at using tools than the males of that age. Using sticks to dig up tasty termites is a skill chimps have and the young females in Tanzania, East Africa have been found to use this tool two years earlier than the males. And it's because the young females watched their mamas collecting bugs,
while the males spent their time climbing trees and somersaulting.
However, when it comes to hunting and throwing, the boy chimps are able to
do so earlier than the girls! |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Politics | Produced by Lake House |
