Young chimp portrait

The Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), also known as the Robust Chimpanzee, is a great ape. The name troglodytes, Greek for 'cave-dweller', was coined by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in his Handbuch der Naturgeschichte (Handbook of Natural History) published in 1779. Colloquially, it is often called the chimpanzee (or simply 'chimp' ), though technically this term refers to both species in the genus Pan: the Common Chimpanzee and the closely-related Bonobo, or Pygmy Chimpanzee.

Common Chimpanzees live in communities that typically range from twenty to more than 150 members, but spend most of their time travelling in small parties of just a few individuals. They are both arboreal and terrestrial, spending equal time in the trees and on the ground. Their habitual gait is quadrupedal, using the soles of their feet and resting on their knuckles, but they can walk upright for short distances. Common Chimpanzees are 'knuckle walkers', like gorillas, in contrast to the quadrupedal locomotion of orangutans and bonobos, ' palm walkers ' who use the outside edge of their palms.

When confronted by a predator, chimpanzees will react with loud screams and use any object they can get against the threat. As noted above, the leopard is the chimp's main natural predator, but they have also fallen prey to lions as well.

Common chimpanzee.
Pan troglodytes
Welsh Moiuntain Zoo, Colwyn Bay.
IUCN redlist status: Endangered.