Six million years ago, we shared a common ancestor. Now, our chimp relatives are struggling to stay aliveThe DNA of humans and chimpanzees is about 95% identical. Evolutionarily speaking, they are our closest living relative.
But things have been hard on our kin. Disease, predation, mining and agriculture have all taken a deadly toll.
Just a few years ago, there were about 10,000 chimpanzees in Tanzania. According to a recent report issued by the Tanzania National Parks Authority, there are just 700 left.
Scientific American has dubbed it a "chimpanzee apocalypse."
Primatologist Jane Goodall, famed for her 45-year study of chimpanzees, once said:
"I do not want to discuss evolution in such depth, however, only touch on it from my own perspective: From the moment when I stood on the Serengeti plains holding the fossilized bones of ancient creatures in my hands to the moment when, staring into the eyes of a chimpanzee, I saw a thinking, reasoning personality looking back. You may not believe in evolution, and that is all right. How we humans came to be the way we are is far less important than how we should act now to get out of the mess we have made for ourselves."
GET INVOLVED
- Sign the Project R&R petition to end chimpanzee research in the United States
- Support the Jane Goodall Institute
- Sign a petition to stop the bushmeat trade and hunting of primates
- Killing Congo's Chimps (March 29, 2009)
- Tracking Our Second-Closest Relatives (March 24, 2009)
- Mountain Gorilla Conservation Pact Begins (July 2, 2008)
- Satellite Images Reveal Drastic Changes in Africa (June 16, 2008)
- Congo Ranger Arrested for Killing Gorillas (March 19, 2008)
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