Short answers, pulled from the story.
The first written record of a chimpanzee in Western history appeared in The London Magazine in September 1738. This account described a female creature brought over from Guinea and called a chimpanze or mockman by the Angolans. Before this 1738 account the species remained largely unknown to European science.
Chimpanzee fossils were not described until 2005. This discovery left a significant gap in the understanding of their evolutionary history compared to the abundance of Homo fossils. Recent studies published in 2017 by researchers at George Washington University indicate that bonobos and chimpanzees split from the human line approximately 8 million years ago.
Chimpanzee muscles are 50% stronger per weight than those of humans due to a higher content of fast-twitch muscle fibers. An adult chimpanzee's grip strength is estimated to be between 1,000 and 1,500 pounds. This makes them significantly more powerful than humans despite being more slender than gorillas.
The first nonhuman animal reported making a tool was a chimpanzee from the Kasakela community. This individual modified a twig to extract termites from their mound. In West Africa chimpanzees sharpen sticks with their teeth to spear bushbabies from tree holes.
The first great ape in space was Ham who launched in 1961. Enos orbited Earth in the same year. These events symbolize the extent to which chimpanzees have been used for human advancement.
Chimpanzee populations have declined from about a million in the early 1900s to between 172,700 and 299,700 today. The chimpanzee is listed on the IUCN Red List as an endangered species. Habitat destruction poaching and disease pose significant threats to these remaining populations.