Lately, people have entered the forests where chimpanzees live. The chimpanzees have been getting sick because of people's diseases. In addition, people are hunting chimpanzees. Their number is becoming smaller and smaller.

    Chimpanzees live in the plains and forests of Africa. They eat many kinds of foods, from plant leaves and seeds to insects and even other small animals. Chimpanzees' favourite food is fruit.

    Chimpanzees are very clever and they can use tools well. They can catch bugs by using sticks, and break nuts by using rocks.

    The world's forests are much smaller than they were before. Roads were built in deep forests, so people start to enter the forests where chimpanzees live. That may lead to many problems. One problem for chimpanzees is that they can easily catch people's diseases and die.

Chimpanzees are much closer to people than monkeys.

    As it's easier for people to enter forests, they hunt more often. Young chimpanzees are caught to be pets or for scientific research. The young ones are taken away from the forests, and the adults are killed. Chimpanzees are likely to disappear in the future.

    Mike Myers is a teacher at Chauncey Rose High School in Terre Haute, Indiana. Last year, he taught his students about the world's rain forests. They learned that rain forests are important because the plants and animals of the rain forests give us food, wood and medicine.

    Destruction of the world's rain forests is a severe problem. As part of a class project, Myers' students bought three acres (英亩) of rain forest in Central America. They paid $25 for each acre. The students hope that the land they bought will be protected and not destroyed.

    Last June, Myers and four of his students took a boat ride down a river. They saw alligators and crocodiles. In the middle of the week, a guide took Myers and his students into the rain forest. "The monkeys were not happy that we were in their forest. They broke small branches off the trees and threw them at us," one of the students said. "It was a great journey of exploring nature for all of us," said Myers.

    Each student close something special about Costa Rica to study involving the plants animals, food, and culture. During the last few days the group had time to do fun activation. They went whitewater rafting and horseback riding, and visited Costa Rica's active volcano.

    Myers hopes to make the trip every year with a different group of kids.

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