Observing Chimpanzees at The Kimberly-Clark Chimpanzee Forest Exhibit at Dallas Zoo

I observed chimpanzees in the Kimberly-Clark Chimpanzee Forest exhibit at the Dallas zoo. These African apes, like humans, are hominoids and fall into the larger category of catarrhines. Their scientific classification is Pan troglodytes. There were about ten chimpanzees in that habitat. Most of them were grown adults, except two children. They were robust and had black fur. The average weight of the chimps was listed on a display to be about 115 pounds.
Grass made up their environment around which they traveled mostly on all fours, on their feet and their knuckles. They stood erect on two feet to walk when using their hands to carry something. I wasn’t surprised to see that there was an enormous termite mound in the middle of their habitat because I had read about it in the anthropology textbook, and how chimps are adept tool users in that they not only construct them, but also use them strategically. With these tools, they reach into the termite hillock and seek out and ingest their newfound grub.
Inside the chimp habitat, I noticed a sign which read: Look here for a “zoo” born! When I saw it, I recalled that earlier during the day, a senior docent named Rhonda who worked with the gorillas had told me that there was recently a newborn chimp. She said to look very closely to find the baby because the mother was extremely protective of it. She had also mentioned that the newborn’s furless skin would be very pink. At first, I looked very keenly for the small new chimp who had just been born this year, but I couldn’t find it. I finally spotted the baby after I moved to a different position to view the chimps from the open air viewing area. The infant was just as Rhonda had described it: nestled in its mother’s arms as she shielde...

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...ur is dependent upon its mother for only a few months after its birth, while an ape is dependent for four or five years. A chimpanzee infant cannot survive if its mother dies before it reaches the age of 4 at the very least.” I understood this when I witnessed the close bond between Ramona and her newborn. Seeing their affinity for each other reminded me that humans are also very well attached to young ones who are new to this world. This makes sense because after all, chimpanzees are our closest living relatives!

Works Cited

William Haviland, Harald Prins, Dana Walrath, Bunny McBride, Anthropology: The Human Challenge (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011), 58.
Haviland, Anthropology, 67.
Haviland, Anthropology, 83-84.
Haviland, Anthropology, 67.
Haviland, Anthropology, 69.
Haviland, Anthropology, 58.
Haviland, Anthropology, 88.