14 July: World Chimpanzee Day

Today is World Chimpanzee Day. Here are 10 things you might not know about chimps:

1. Wild chimpanzees are only found in Africa. Most live in rainforests because that’s where there is the most abundant supplies of food and water. The largest groups are found in Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon.

2. There are four confirmed subspecies of chimpanzee: Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti), Central chimpanzee (P. t. troglodytes), Western chimpanzee (P. t. verus) and Eastern chimpanzee (P. t. schweinfurthii). There’s a proposed fifth subspecies: the Southeastern chimpanzee (P. t. marungensis).

3. The English word chimpanzee was first recorded in 1738. It derives from the Tshiluba word “chimpenze”, which means “ape”. The genus name, Pan, derives from the Greek god, while the specific name troglodytes was taken from the Troglodytae, a mythical race of cave-dwellers.

4. They’re omnivores, meaning they’ll eat anything, although they seem to like fruit best. Seeds, leaves, insects, Honey and roots also feature in their diet. Sometimes they’ll even co-operate to hunt small animals so they can have meat.

5. We Share 95 to 98% of DNA with Chimpanzees. Our two species are descended from a single ancestor species which lived 6-7 million years ago.

6. Chimps are fast (they can reach speeds of 25mph (40kph) when running) and very strong, thanks to their arms being adapted for climbing and swinging through trees.

7. They can be highly aggressive. They’ve been known to attack people and severely injure or kill them, and groups of chimps will wage war against other groups of chimps if resources are scarce, often fighting to the death (just like humans).

8. They’re highly social animals and live in groups of up to 150 individuals presided over by a dominant male. Within that group there will be smaller groups of about ten individuals. They teach each other to use tools. Chimps bond with one another by grooming, and they communicate using about 30 different vocalisations and 58 different types of gesture. They will warn other chimps of danger. They can even be taught to communicate with us, using sign language. A chimpanzee named Washoe learned to communicate with ASL and was able to use over 350 signs. Washoe also managed to pass on some signs to her adopted son.

9. Chimps have cleaner beds than we do, because they build a new, clean nest to sleep in every night.

10. Two chimpanzees have been sent into space as NASA research subjects. Ham, the first great ape in space, was launched in January 1961 on a sub-orbital flight, and survived. Enos was the third primate to orbit the Earth after Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Garagrin and Gherman Titov, flew on in November of the same year.

Character birthday

Flatman, an experimental synthesoid who appeared human. He was programmed with false memories and believed himself to be an unmarried, unremarkable accountant named Colin Hughes, who lived alone and had no family. He did, however, secretly dream of adventure and excitement.

When visiting a construction company to do their accounts, "Colin" was involved in a freak accident with a steam roller. Any human would have died, but the synthesoid was simply rolled out flat. While he and all his functions survived intact, "Colin" was forced to accept that he had never been human.

While coming to terms with this, he met Destroyer who recruited him to help with the nuclear testing as he would be immune to most of the effects. Hence he was with Destroyer off Bird Island when the bomb opened a wormhole. He was transported to Earth where he, Destroyer and several others became the Desperadoes.

Over the Rainbow

'We're not in Trinity anymore,' says Leonard Marx, quoting a line from an old Innovian  movie. The moon is different; the planes flying overhead are different. Nobody has any idea where they are or if it's possible to get home. 

In this strange new world, people from the highly technical Innovia and the less advanced Classica must co-operate in order to survive. In addition, travel through the inter-dimensional wormhole has given some people unusual and unexpected powers.

Innovia mourns the loss of its superhero, Power Blaster, last seen carrying a nuclear bomb to the upper atmosphere away from the inhabited Bird Island. They don't believe he could possibly have survived.  Power Blaster has survived, but is close to death and stranded in the new dimension. He is nursed back to health by a Classican woman, Elena. She has no idea who he is, only that she is falling in love with the handsome stranger.  

Shanna sets out to discover what happened to Nathan Tate, who didn't return from his hiking holiday, not knowing her life is about to be turned inside out and upside down. 

Meanwhile, Desi Troyes, the man responsible for the catastrophe, is at large on the new world, plotting how he can transfer his plans for world domination to the planet he now finds himself on - Earth. 

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