Loss of Habitat - The number of chimpanzees in the wild has dropped steadily since 1960. At one time, over one million chimpanzees inhabited more than 25 countries in Africa. Now, scientists think that there are only 150,000 to 235,000 chimpanzees. Only six African countries have healthy wild breeding populations. Chimpanzee habitat has been destroyed to make farmland, to provide trees for the logging industry, and to build roads.

Illegal Capture - Baby chimpanzees are cute, but they are wild animals and they do not want to be pets. By the age of five, chimps are strong and as pets they usually end up inside a miserable cage where they are very unhappy. Primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall estimates that for each baby chimp taken as a pet, ten other chimps are killed - one mother and several relatives killed protecting the baby.

Hunting for Bushmeat - Bushmeat - the meat of wild animals - has long been a part of the staple diet of forest dwelling peoples. But today, the trade in bushmeat - much of it illegal - has become a business in which opportunists can make large profits.

Although ape meat represents a small proportion of the enormous bushmeat trade, it is the greatest threat facing chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos. These great apes are being hunted to extinction for food in the forests of west and central Africa. An army of 2,000 bushmeat hunters will illegally shoot over 4,000 chimpanzees this year. The bushmeat trade also threatens the survival of many other protected species throughout Africa, from giant pangolins to forest elephants. Some people will pay alot of money to eat these animals. Conservationists are trying to help the people of Africa find ways to stop this slaughter.

Above Photo: Center for Primate Studies, University of Minnesota
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