I need to know what the asker means by "conscious" here; it's a very slippery term and I don't feel comfortable assuming I know how to read it.

Personally, I think there are so many different meanings and interpretations for the word consciousness that we will never be able to settle on one precise meaning for it. So what the question is really asking is just if you're comfortable applying that term to chimpanzees... so part of what it's asking is what your definition of consciousness is.