Humanity's closest living relative — sharing 98.7% of our DNA — a great ape of African forests with sophisticated tool use, complex social politics, and documented warfare between communities.
Our closest relative
Chimpanzees and humans share approximately 98.7% of their DNA — making them (along with bonobos) our nearest living relatives. The two human/chimp lineages diverged from a common ancestor about 6 million years ago.
This closeness has made chimpanzees subjects of extensive cognitive and behavioral research. Many human-like traits — tool use, learned culture, political alliances, deception, retaliation, gestural communication — were documented in chimpanzees before being recognized as distinct from “uniquely human” behaviors.
Tools and culture
Chimpanzees use a remarkable variety of tools — different communities use different toolkits, and the techniques are culturally transmitted rather than innate:
- Termite fishing — modified twigs inserted into termite mounds.
- Nut cracking — using hammer stones and anvil stones (Tai Forest, Côte d’Ivoire).
- Spear hunting — sharpened sticks for hunting bushbabies (Senegal).
- Sponging — chewed leaves used to extract water from tree hollows.
Different communities use different techniques; a chimp from one community brought to another community has to learn the local methods. This is cultural variation in non-humans — the same kind of regional knowledge transmission seen in human cultures.
Politics and war
Long-term studies (Jane Goodall’s Gombe research, ongoing for 60+ years) have documented sophisticated chimpanzee social politics:
- Alliance formation for status and access to mates.
- Coalition warfare between male groups.
- The Gombe Chimpanzee War (1974–78) — a documented sequence of patrols and killings between two former communities that split, eventually exterminating one community’s males.
These observations changed scientific understanding of intergroup violence as a uniquely human trait.
Endangered
All chimpanzee populations are endangered, with declining numbers across their range due to habitat loss, bushmeat hunting, and the illegal pet trade. Population estimates: 170,000–300,000 across Africa, down dramatically from historical millions.
Bonobos (Pan paniscus) — chimpanzees’ less-known sister species, found only south of the Congo River — are even more critically endangered.