Chimpanzee

Along with bonobos, chimpanzees are our closest living relatives, sharing about 98 per cent of our DNA. Like us, they make and use tools. They trim sticks to fish for termites, crack nuts with stones, and use leaves as sponges to drink. Wild groups also have their own local customs, with up to 20 traditions, from special hand-clasps for grooming to noisy leaf-clipping and different ways of using hammers and pestles.

They are tailless apes with dark, coarse hair and bare faces, hands and feet. Large ears stick out, and long arms, hands and fingers help them climb and swing. They mostly move on all fours, walking on the soles of their feet and the knuckles of their hands, but they can also stand and walk upright.

They live in big groups of several dozen animals, led by a top male and his allies. They groom each other to build bonds and remove ticks and dirt. Groups join and split as food comes and goes. They live across equatorial Africa, from the west to Uganda and Tanzania in the east, in rainforest, woodland and savanna, and build a fresh leafy nest to sleep in each night.