Western chimpanzee

Western chimpanzee
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Suborder:	Haplorhini
Infraorder:	Simiiformes
Family:	Hominidae
Subfamily:	Homininae
Tribe:	Hominini
Genus:	Pan
Species:	P. troglodytes
Subspecies:	P. t. verus
Trinomial name
Pan troglodytes verus Schwarz, 1934

The western chimpanzee or West African chimpanzee

The population of the western chimpanzee once spanned from southern Senegal all the way east to the Niger River.^[1][6] Today, the largest populations remaining are found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.^[1][7]

Behavior

Diet and hunting

Male and female western chimpanzees differ in their prey. In Fongoli, Senegal,

Western chimpanzees have unique behaviors never observed in any of the other subspecies of the chimpanzee. In fact, their behaviour is so diverged from that of their fellow subspecies of chimpanzee that it has been proposed West African chimpanzees may be a distinct species in their own right.[10] They make wooden spears to hunt other primates, use caves as homes, share plant foods with each other, and travel and forage during the night. They also submerge themselves in water and play in it to stay cool in the oppressive heat.^[10][11][12]

Female west African chimpanzees are quite gregarious and often support one another in conflicts with males, resulting in a more gender-balanced hierarchy than that of the rigidly patriarchal east african chimpanzees.^{[citation needed]} Female West African chimpanzees have been observed hunting and accompany males on territorial patrols, playing a more important role in social dynamics than other chimpanzee subspecies.^[13] While it was traditionally accepted that only female chimpanzees immigrate and males remain in their natal troop for life, western chimpanzees uniquely exhibit female and male immigration between groups, suggesting males are less territorial and more willing to accept unfamiliar males.^[14] Paternity tests indicate males frequently mate with females from several different communities, siring infants from them. There are even cases of solitary male western chimpanzees, while in any other population, a chimpanzee couldn't survive alone.^[15] Male West African chimpanzees generally are respectful of females and do not forcibly confiscate food from them,^[16] which may at least partly stem from the gregarious females forming alliances.^[17] Among the Tai forest community, infants are often adopted by unrelated adults, with both sexes adopting infants in equal measure.^[18] Female western chimpanzees also can rebuff the unwanted advances of males and select males to breed with on their own terms. This further is in line with the active and possibly co-dominant role female western chimpanzees play in their communities.^[19]

Conservation status

The IUCN lists the western chimpanzee as