AnimalsChimpanzees are among our closest living relatives. They live in communities, make and use simple tools such as sticks to fish for termites, and pass these skills on to their young.
Quick facts
- Scientific name
- Pan troglodytes
- Group
- Mammals
- Diet
- Omnivore (eats plants and animals)
- Lives in
- West and Central Africa
- Habitat
- Rainforest and wooded savanna
- A young one is called
- infant
- A group is called
- community or troop
- Conservation status
- Endangered
How it is classified
Scientists sort living things into groups within groups. Reading down, each step is a smaller group, ending with the species itself.
- Kingdom Animalia
- Phylum Chordata
- Class Mammalia
- Order Primates
- Family Hominidae
- Genus Pan
- Species Pan troglodytes
Other members of the family Hominidae on this site: Bornean orangutan, Western gorilla.
More distant relatives in the order Primates: northern plains gray langur, rhesus macaque, ring-tailed lemur.
Classification follows the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Other reference works arrange some groups differently. How classification works.
Is it in danger?
The chimpanzee is listed as Endangered. The species faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
This is the IUCN Red List category as recorded in Wikidata on 11 November 2026. The IUCN Red List itself is the authority and may carry a newer assessment. What the categories mean.