A female chimp born at the Rockhampton Zoo has given hope to an Australasian breeding program which hopes to raise the number of chimpanzees from 51 to 80 over the next 20 years.
Poaching, palm oil and habitat destruction are among the reasons for Chimpanzee Endangerment in Africa, with numbers plummeting from 3.5 million 50 years ago to less than 200,000 today.
Rockhampton Zoo life sciences coordinator Graeme Strachan said the future of Chimpanzees could sadly be in captivity.