Chimps
Chimp is short for chimpanzee. Chimps are not monkeys. Chimps are apes. They are the second smartest animals on the planet! (People are the smartest animals.)
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Chimps live in Africa.
A chimp has thin, black hair on most of its body.
A chimp has long arms. Its arms are much longer than its legs. They do not have tails. No ape has a tail. |
Chimps' hands are like our hands. They have opposable thumbs, just like our thumbs. Opposable thumbs make it easy to hold things. |
Chimps eat all kinds of food. They eat fruit, leaves and flowers. They also eat insects, birds and other animals.
Chimps eat all kinds of food. They eat fruit, leaves and flowers. They also eat insects, birds and other animals.
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They can work together to hunt monkeys and small animals. They might even kill chimps that stray from other groups.
They can work together to hunt monkeys and small animals. They might even kill chimps that stray from other groups.
Licensed under CC GFDL 1.2 via Wikimedia Commons
Chimps are clever. They can make and use tools. This chimp is using a twig to get insects.
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They can use rocks to crack open nuts.
A chimp can think of clever ways of getting food.
A chimp can also hold a big leaf over its head like an umbrella when it's raining. If a chimp is feeling ill, it knows there are leaves it can eat to make it feel better.
People have tried to teach chimps hand movements called sign language. It is normally used by deaf people to understand other people. Some chimps have been good at sign language. Washoe the chimp learned 250 different signs.
They live in groups of up to 120 chimps. They tell things to other chimps by using different sounds and facial expressions. They can laugh and feel sadness.
The big toe of a chimp’s foot is opposable, like our thumb, to help it grab food or climb trees.
Chimps can stand, but they prefer to move on all fours. They move by curling their hands into fists and walking on their knuckles.
Newborn chimps are helpless. Their mums carry them around. Mums feed their babies milk.
When a chimp is 6 months old it can ride on its mother's back. At this time, the baby chimp still drinks mum's milk but starts to eat food as well.
Chimps have flat teeth for grinding food and sharp teeth for cutting meat. Male chimps have long pointy teeth. They use them to bite when they are fighting.