Chimpanzees are humans’ closest living relatives, sharing over 98% of our DNA. They are endangered, with fewer than 250,000 left and an annual decline of between 1.5% and 6%. This is due to habitat destruction, hunting and infectious diseases, among other threats.
Understanding how chimpanzees have adapted to survive in the wild can shed light on key questions in human biology and evolution. It can also inform their conservation. However, we know very little about genetic adaptation in chimpanzees, because obtaining high-quality DNA samples from wild individuals is extremely challenging.
We attempted to address this knowledge gap by collecting faecal samples from hundreds of wild chimpanzees across 17 African countries as part of the Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee. This is an international consortium of scientists including geneticists, primatologists and ecologists.
