In the first picture you see a male and female chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, family Hominidae. This species is found in central and west Africa north of the Congo River.  Pan troglodytes and Pan paniscus, the Bonobo chimpanzee, are our closest living relatives in the primates. You can find more about their habitat and natural history on the University of Wisconsin website. Wikipedia also provides a general treatment of this species and the Bonobo.

If you are interested in the genetic relationships between humans and the chimpanzees, there is a journal article from Nature that discusses the research. Be advised it is written for people well versed in the science of genetics.

Our closest relatives in the primate community have readily identifiable expressions to which we can relate. In the image above, it appears that she is asking him for a bite of orange.

In the third, she becomes more insistent and he glares at her.

In the final image, she appears to complain while he guiltily eats his orange. Chimpanzee means mock man in the Bantu language and these pictures show how closely their behavior resembles our own. Like all of us, I enjoy observing them and I hope they can be kept from extinction but that requires habitat preservation and wise management. Thankfully, there are established parks and preserves in the African countries where they live. Perhaps, we will be wise enough to coexist with our closest relatives and enrich our future with these remarkable creatures.

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