page_title: Common chimpanzee
section_title: Chimps eating habits
hierarchical_section_title: Common chimpanzee / Chimps eating habits
caption_attribution_description: Chimpanzee, Kigale, Uganda
context_page_description: The common chimpanzee, also known as the robust chimpanzee, is a species of great ape. The common chimpanzee is often called the chimpanzee, though this can be used to refer to both species in the genus Pan: the common chimpanzee and the closely related bonobo. Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing show both species of chimpanzees are the closest living relatives to modern humans.
  The common chimpanzee is more robust than the bonobo, weighing between 40 and 65 kg and measuring approximately 1.3 to 1.6 m from head to tail. Its gestation period is eight months. The infant is weaned at about three years old, but usually maintains a close relationship with its mother for several more years; it reaches puberty at the age of eight to 10, and its lifespan in captivity is about 50 years.
  The common chimpanzee lives in groups which range from 15 to 150 members, although individuals travel and forage in much smaller groups during the day. The species lives in a male-dominated, strict hierarchy, so disputes can generally be settled without the need for violence.
context_section_description: Jane Goodall discovered that chimps hunt and eat smaller primates such as Colobus monkeys. Goodall watched a hunting group isolate a colobus high in a tree, block all possible exits, then one chimpanzee climbed up and captured and killed the colobus. The others then each took parts of the carcass, sharing with other members of the troop in response to begging behaviours. The chimps at Gombe kill and eat as much as one-third of the colobus population in the park each year. This alone was a major scientific find which challenged previous conceptions of chimp diet and behavior.
  "Goodall’s Gombe data have also led researchers to take a closer look at the role that hunting plays in chimp feeding habits. One recent Gombe study, for instance, concluded that the 45 members of one troop ate a ton of monkey meat per year. During one hunting binge, chimps killed 71 colobus monkeys in 68 days; one chimp alone killed 42 monkeys over five years. All told, chimps may kill and eat a third of the Gombe’s colobus population each year. Researchers have also found that lower-ranking males often trade the meat for mating privileges; such trades may help prevent inbreeding by keeping a single group of males from fathering the majority of a troop’s children".
caption: Older male chimpanzee, Uganda
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