If you live in Canada, then you are probably recovering from a great Thanksgiving Feast or getting ready to prepare one, depending if you celebrate on the Sunday or not. I want to take a quick minute to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving as we all have so much to be thankful for. For example, I am thankful for all of my amazing readers that provide me with the encouragement and excitement to keep going with the Wild Facts project. Similarly, I am thankful for the Chimpanzee! Why? Well, besides them being closely related to humans they are today’s Wild Fact so where would we be without them, right?
It may surprise you to learn that the Chimpanzee or “Chimp” as we like to call it, is actually an endangered species. That’s right, one of the most famous primates and a member of a sister group to the human lineage is in the process of vanishing from the face of the earth. There are a few things such as habitat destruction, in the form of deforestation, poaching and disease which has lead to the decline of the intelligent Chimpanzee. Luckily, they are protected in most countries and there are quite a few National Parks set up to help protect this beloved primate. Let’s hope it works and their population rebounds since I would hate to lose a member of our family.
I am sure we are all familiar with the Chimpanzee since they are quite popular but let’s see if we can find something interesting and different that perhaps you didn’t realize. Did you know that all adult male Chimps are dominant over their female counterparts? That’s right, the Women Rights movement hasn’t quite swept over Chimpanzee nation yet. Interestingly enough, those same female Chimps don’t seem to develop close bonds with other community members. On the other hand, the males form close bonds with the other males and will often share food and possessions with them. Isn’t it nice when everyone gets along?
Chimpanzee Fast Fact – You may picture the chimps hanging out in the trees all day, but much like the Gorilla, the Chimpanzee usually “knuckle-walk” on the ground. They have actually adapted to this walk by evolving a ridge of a bone in their wrists that keep them from buckling under their own weight.
That does it for our Chimpanzee Wild Fact. Enjoy the rest of your day (especially if you are off for the Canadian holiday) and I will see you tomorrow.
