Q 01/05

What is the chimpanzee's scientific name?

A) Pan paniscus

B) Pan troglodytes

C) Pongo pygmaeus

D) Homo troglodytes

Answer · why

B) Pan troglodytes

Pan paniscus is the bonobo, the only other species in the genus; the two are humans' closest living relatives.

Q 02/05

Which animal is the only other living species in the genus Pan alongside the chimpanzee?

A) The gorilla

B) The orangutan

C) The gibbon

D) The bonobo

Answer · why

D) The bonobo

It was long called the pygmy chimpanzee and was only recognised as a separate species in 1933.

Q 03/05

A 1738 magazine glossed the word 'chimpanze' as meaning what in an Angolan language?

A) Forest devil

B) Mockman

C) Little brother

D) Hairy one

Answer · why

B) Mockman

Modern Vili, a Kongo language, has the comparable word ci-mpenzi; the short form 'chimp' dates from the late 1870s.

Q 04/05

The chimpanzee's genus name Pan is taken from what?

A) A Latin word for bread

B) An African river

C) A Portuguese explorer

D) A Greek god

Answer · why

D) A Greek god

The species name troglodytes comes from the Troglodytae, a mythical race of cave-dwellers.

Q 05/05

How many extant great ape species are there in the family Hominidae, humans included?

A) Eight

B) Four

C) Five

D) Six

Answer · why

A) Eight

Three orangutans, two gorillas, the chimpanzee, the bonobo and Homo sapiens.