The Great Apes

[The Panther]

Bonobos and Chimpanzees 


Bonobos

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Bonobos are members of the pan genus found only within the rainforest interior of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their faces are generally dark grey with pink lips and are usually quite gracile in build compared to chimpanzees. They have a very matriarchal society which makes them quite distinct from other apes. They can number up to 100 individuals at times and are quite nomadic in nature with barely any defined borders between the groups. Hunting parties are known to be lead by females which is very unlike chimpanzees, they'd mostly hunt the small antelope species called duikers. They weigh between 90 lbs to over 132 lbs in males and over 75 lbs in females. They're said to be almost 4 feet tall bipedal making them shorter than Chimpanzees too.

Chimpanzees 

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Chimpanzees are the larger and more well known members of the pan genus. They live from Senegal in West Africa all the way to Tanzania in East Africa, making them the most widespread of wild great apes. Their skin come in a range of colours and shades, they go from peach and light brown in colour to dark grey. Certain chimpanzees get darker with age but others can retain lighter skin even as adults. Multiple subspecies make up the Chimpanzee species, there is the Western chimpanzees, the Nigerian-Cameroon chimpanzees, the Central Chimpanzees and then the Eastern chimpanzees. They're generally found in rainforests throughout their range, but they also live in deciduous forests, dry savanna and mountain forests. Mountain dwelling chimpanzees look quite different from the other populations, they have substantially longer coats due to the colder mountainous climate. 

Chimpanzees are known to have groups of up to 200 members, they're also known to wage war against eachother in conflicts that can span years. They've even gone out of their way to attack gorilla groups, with infants being killed in the process. Males are very dominant in chimpanzee society, the highest ranking males also tend to be the most aggressive. There are alpha males too, they are the highest ranking member of all. Chimpanzees have all male patrols and hunting parties, they'll hunt anything from antelopes to monkeys.

Other than the changes that occur due to climate, chimpanzee subspecies generally look similar to eachother with less physical distinctions than those found in other great ape species. Males weigh between 90 to over 154 lbs and females between 75 to over 110 lbs. They are over 4 feet tall when bipedal with males being able to reach around 5 feet or over. Although captive individuals have exceeded over 200 lbs, their maximum size range in the wild is unknown. Reply