CHIMPANZEE, the popular name (of native African origin) of the more widely distributed of the two genera of anthropoid apes of the African equatorial forests; the other being the closely related but larger gorilla (q.v.). The paramount interest of the chimpanzee lies in its resemblance to man. Though it walks on all fours, is covered with abundant hair and has a grasping hand-like foot, its zoological affinities are with man rather than with the tailed monkeys as abundantly attested by comparative anatomy, physiology and bio-chemistry. The chimpanzee is a forest dweller, associating in small bands, spending a large part of the time in trees where it constructs rude sleeping nests and feeds on fruits and other vegetable matter. It is easily distinguished from the other great apes by its flesh-coloured skin which, however, grows darker with age and by its large outstanding ears. The prevailing colour of the hair is black. An adult male may weigh 16o lb. and standing erect may be 41ft. in height.
The popular reputation of this ape for superior intelligence has been amply confirmed by elaborate experimental studies of its mentality by the psychologists W. Koehler and R. M. Yerkes. The results obtained indicate that the chimpanzee mind is more man-like than monkey-like in the mode of its operations, though in content or range it stands closer to the monkeys. The lack of capacity for speech seems absolutely to preclude the attainment of any culture or social inheritance.
The nomenclature of the chimpanzee is in a very unsettled state, chiefly owing to confusion with the orang-utan by earlier writers. The generic names which have had the widest currency are Ant/iropopithecus and Troglodytes, but the rules of nomen clature seem to indicate that the Linnaean name Sisnia satyrus (generally applied to the orang-utan) belongs rightfully to the chimpanzee. Several local variants have been described as species, but it seems probable that most of them are mere local varieties of one or, at most, two or three valid species (see PRIMATES).