CHIMPANZEE

The Chimpanzee

Chimpanzees are not just our closest living relatives — they are us, reflected in a darkened forest. They wage wars. They use tools. They comfort each other in grief. They hunt cooperatively. They share food with strangers. And increasingly, they're watching their forest home disappear at a rate that should alarm everyone who cares about our planet's future.

The chimpanzee's range once spanned across the forests of 25 African countries. Today, that range has shrunk to a fraction, with populations fragmented across isolated patches in just 21 countries. The central subspecies, in Central Africa, has declined by 90% in 30 years.

The threats are relentless: logging, mining, agriculture. Disease, especially Ebola, which has wiped out entire communities of chimps. And hunting — for bushmeat, for the pet trade, for 'traditional medicine.'