Research news on chimpanzees (genus)

Chimpanzees, in a biological genus context, refer to the genus *Pan*, which comprises two extant species: the common chimpanzee (*Pan troglodytes*) and the bonobo (*Pan paniscus*). Members of *Pan* are large-bodied African apes characterized by high encephalization, complex social structures, and advanced cognitive capacities, including tool use and cultural transmission of behaviors. Genetically, they are the closest living relatives of humans, sharing a high degree of sequence homology across the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. Research on *Pan* informs comparative genomics, primate behavioral ecology, evolutionary anthropology, and the molecular and developmental bases of traits underlying hominin evolution.