Chimpanzee, often shortened to chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of apes in the genus Pan. The better known chimpanzee is Pan troglodytes, the Common Chimpanzee, living primarily in West, and Central Africa. Its cousin, the Bonobo or "Pygmy Chimpanzee" as it is known archaically, Pan paniscus, is found in the forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Congo River forms the boundary between the two species.[2] Chimpanzees are members of the Hominidae family, along with gorillas, humans, and orangutans.

A full grown adult male chimpanzee can weigh from 35-70 kilograms (75-155 pounds) and stand 0.9-1.2 meters (3-4 feet) tall, while females usually weigh 26-50 kg (57-110 pounds) and stand 0.66-1 meters (2.0-3.5 feet) tall.

Chimpanzees rarely live past the age of 40 in the wild, but have been known to reach the age of more than 60 in captivity. Cheeta, star of Tarzan is still alive as of 2007 at the age of 75, making him the oldest known chimpanzee in the world.

Chimpanzees make tools and use them to acquire foods and for social displays; they have sophisticated hunting strategies requiring cooperation, influence and rank; they are status conscious, manipulative and capable of deception; they can learn to use symbols and understand aspects of human language including some relational syntax, concepts of number and numerical sequence. Young chimpanzees have outperformed human college students in tasks requiring remembering numbers.

Modern chimpanzees use tools, and recent research indicates that chimpanzee stone tool use dates to at least 4300 years ago.A recent study revealed the use of such advanced tools as spears, which Common Chimpanzees in Senegal sharpen with their teeth, being used to spear Senegal Bushbabies out of small holes in trees. Prior to the discovery of tool use in chimps, it was believed that humans were the only species to make and use tools, but several other tool-using species are now known. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia