Their appearance in open areas depends on access to evergreen fruit-producing forests. Chimps help insure a healthy plant diversity within their habitat because they feed on a variety of fruits and help disperse their seeds. Even though there are as many as 35,000 chimps in the wild, these populations have been reduced and fragmented by human interference with their habitats. People hunt these chimps for food or to protect their crops, and they are exported by commercial animal traders. Chimpanzees have been observed using medical plants to treat themselves and others for illness and injury.
Chimps avoid water at all costs and are usually unable to swim, unless extremely excited.
The Life of Primates, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Great Britain. Seth, P.K. and Seth, S. 1986. The Primates, Northern Book Centre, New Dehli.