About Chimpanzees
Chimpanzees are members of the great ape family, which includes bonobos, gorillas, orangutans, and humans. They inhabit 21 African countries and live in the greatest concentrations in rainforests along the equator.
Free-living chimpanzee populations are rapidly decreasing due to deforestation and the illegal bushmeat trade, for which chimpanzees and other non-domesticated animals are hunted and killed for human consumption. One to two million chimpanzees lived in Africa in 1900, while only about 150,000 free-living chimpanzees exist today, making them highly endangered.
Chimpanzees are genetically very similar to humans, sharing 98.76% of their genetic material. In fact, chimpanzees are more closely related to humans than they are to gorillas. Unfortunately, chimpanzees pay a high price for being our closest relatives. In captivity, they are subjected to various forms of exploitation and abuse.
There are approximately 2,500 chimpanzees currently living in the United States. Approximately 1,200 of them are used in biomedical research, and 600 are used for entertainment or kept as pets. Approximately 700 chimpanzees live in zoos and sanctuaries in the United States.
At Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest (CSNW), we are working to ensure that the number of chimpanzees exploited in biomedical research and entertainment will decrease as more sanctuary space is created. At CSNW, we believe that the physical, psychological, and emotional needs of the chimpanzees come first.
With a thorough understanding of chimpanzee behavior, caregivers can interpret the needs and wants of the chimpanzees they care for, and even use chimpanzee behaviors to facilitate better communication and enrich chimpanzee-human interactions.
As our web site expands, we will provide more information on free-living and captive chimpanzees and the issues that affect them. Below are fact sheets on chimpanzees used in entertainment, chimpanzees used in biomedical research, and chimpanzees exploited as pets. Please feel free to print and share them:
Below are links to other web sites with information about chimpanzees and other great apes:
- Center for Captive Chimpanzees Care provides care to rescued chimpanzees, and a place where they can live out their lives without the threat of ever being returned to a laboratory.
- Center for Great Apes provides a permanent sanctuary in a safe and enriching environment for orangutans and chimpanzees in need of long-term life care, specifically those who have been used in entertainment, kept as pets by private owners, or used as research subjects.
- Chimps Inc. is dedicated to furthering chimpanzee conservation through education.
- The Fauna Foundation provides information about captive chimpanzees.
- Friends of Washoe provides information about the plight of captive chimpanzees. Specifically, the site provides information about chimpanzees in biomedical research, zoos, the entertainment industry, as pets, and in sanctuaries.
- Great Ape Project is an international group founded to work for the global removal of non-human great apes from the category of mere property, and for their immediate protection through the implementation of basic legal principles designed to provide them with the right to life, the freedom of liberty, and protection from torture.
- The Jane Goodall Institute provides information about free-living chimpanzees. Specifically, the site provides extensive information about chimpanzees and chimpanzee conservation.
- New England Anti-Vivisection Society works to expose and replace animal experiments in laboratories and classrooms with ethically and scientifically responsible modern research methods, and to protect human beings who may be subjected to such experiments.