Chimpanzee
Scientific Name
Class
Order
Range
Habitat
Estimated Wild Population
More Information
Physical Description
Chimpanzees range in color from black to gray, and each individual’s face features a unique blend of colors, hairlines, and facial hair. These omnivores feed primarily on fruits, insects, and small animals, including other primates. They live in large “fission-fusion” societies, frequently splintering into smaller groups and re-gathering. Males establish a hierarchy that influences breeding, but mating is fluid between a variety of partners. Offspring are dependent on their troop for up to six years. Female chimpanzees sometimes migrate into new groups during adolescence while males remain with their birth group.
Interesting Fact 1
In the wild, chimpanzees use tools to gather food, such as manipulating thin sticks to “fish” termites from their mounds.
Interesting Fact 2
Lincoln Park Zoo scientists study chimpanzees through behavior and health monitoring, voluntary tool-use studies, and computer touchscreen sessions.
Interesting Fact 3
Their habitat at Regenstein Center for African Apes includes an artificial termite mound, which allows zoo scientists to observe and study their tool-use behavior at the zoo.
Species Survival Plan®
We cooperate with other members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to manage the zoo population of this species through a Species Survival Plan®.
Saving Animals From Exctinction
AZA SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction focuses the collective expertise within AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums and leverages their audiences to save species.
Commitment to Care
Lincoln Park Zoo prioritizes individual well-being over everything else. Guided by scientific research, staff and volunteers work to provide the best welfare outcomes for each individual in the zoo’s care.
Support Your Zoo
Animals Depend On People Too
When you ADOPT an animal, you support world-class animal care by helping to provide specially formulated diets, new habitat elements, and regular veterinary checkups.
Wish List
The Wish List is full of one-of-a-kind items for the zoo’s animals, including nutritious snacks and enrichment items to keep them active and healthy.
Take Action With Us
Wildlife face many daunting challenges—some global, like planet-wide climate change, and some that affect individuals, like an animal ingesting plastic—but now is not the time to despair. None of these problems are too big for us to come together and solve.
