Chimpanzees of Ghana The Chimpanzee, mans closest relative, lives in twenty one countries in equatorial Africa. One of those countries is Ghana. The Swahili name for chimpanzees is Sokwe. They are closer to us genetically than they are to gorillas. Chimpanzees are apes, not monkeys. Monkeys have tails but apes don’t. The chimpanzee has a thickset body with long arms, short legs and no tail. A lot of the body has long black hair, but the face, ears, fingers and toes don’t have any hair. Males can weigh from ninety to one hundred and twenty pounds, while females can weigh from fifty to one hundred and ten pounds. When they stand on two feet they are four to five feet tall. They can walk for short distances on two feet but prefer walking on all four. Chimps live in tropical rain forests, grass lands and jungles. In Ghana this amounts to the south western part of the country. Chimps live in small groups of five to six individuals. Many of these smaller groups will band together to make up a larger group of about fifty. They can live up to fifty years in the wild and up to sixty years in captivity. Chimpanzees are omnivores meaning they eat bugs, leaves, plants, flowers, seeds, tree bark, honey, meat, and many other things. Chimpanzees use tools to gather food. For example, they get sticks and spear termites and eat them off a stick like we would eat a fruit cabob. They also use rocks to crack open nuts. Their hands have a really strong grip, allowing them to pick up objects. Chimps sometimes throw sticks and rocks at enemies. Their enemies are cheetahs, leopards, humans, and sometimes chimps from other groups. Chimps have a gestation period of eight months. Usually their offspring is one. Two are rare. Like us humans, chimps develop a lifelong relationship with their baby. Chimps communicate with facial expressions and gestures. Chimpanzees are endangered and only about one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand remain in the wild. In Ghana, the population is growing so large that people are cutting down forests for farm land. Because of deforestation, chimps have nowhere to live. Chimpanzees live in twenty one equatorial countries in rain forests and grass lands. Chimps are omnivores and use tools. They are closer to us genetically than they are to gorillas. They are apes, not monkeys. Chimps can walk on two legs as well as four, and swing through trees in the jungle. They live in groups of about fifty and are endangered. Their gestation period is eight months and develop a lifelong relationship with their offspring.