The apes are building weapons

[Bounty]

Chimpanzees in Senegal have been observed making and using wooden spears to hunt other primates, according to a study in the journal Current Biology.

Researchers documented 22 cases of chimps fashioning tools to jab at smaller primates sheltering in cavities of hollow branches or tree trunks.

The report's authors, Jill Pruetz and Paco Bertolani, said the finding could have implications for human evolution.

Chimps had not been previously observed hunting other animals with tools.

Pruetz and Bertolani made the discovery at their research site in Fongoli, Senegal, between March 2005 and July 2006.

"There were hints that this behavior might occur, but it was one time at a different site," said Jill Pruetz, assistant professor of anthropology at Iowa State University, US.

"While in Senegal for the spring semester, I saw about 13 different hunting bouts. So it really is habitual."

Jabbing weapon

Chimpanzees were observed jabbing the spears into hollow trunks or branches, over and over again. After the chimp removed the tool, it would frequently smell or lick it.

In the vast majority of cases, the chimps used the tools in the manner of a spear, not as probes. The researchers say they were using enough force to injure an animal that may have been hiding inside.

However, they did not photograph the behaviour, or capture it on film.

In one case, Pruetz and Bertolani, , from the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies in Cambridge, UK, witnessed a chimpanzee extract a bushbaby with a spear.

In most cases, the Fongoli chimpanzees carried out four or more steps to manufacture spears for hunting.

In all but one of the cases, chimps broke off a living branch to make their tool. They would then trim the side branches and leaves.

In a number of cases, chimps also trimmed the ends of the branch and stripped it of bark. Some chimps also sharpened the tip of the tool with their teeth.

Female lead

Adult males have long been regarded as the hunters in chimp groups.

But the authors of the paper in Current Biology said females, particularly adolescent females, and young chimps in general were seen exhibiting this behaviour more frequently than adult males.

"It's classic in primates that when there is a new innovation, particularly in terms of tool use, the younger generations pick it up very quickly. The last ones to pick up are adults, mainly the males", said Dr Pruetz, who led the National Geographic-funded project.

This is because young chimps pick the skill up from their mothers, with whom they spend a lot of their time.

"It's a niche that males seem to ignore," Dr Pruetz told BBC News.

Many areas where chimpanzees live are also home to red colobus monkey, which the chimps hunt. However, the Senegal site is lacking in this species, so chimps may have needed to adopt a new hunting strategy to catch a different prey - bushbaby.

The authors conclude that their findings support a theory that females may have played a similarly important role in the evolution of tool technology among early humans.

[JointStrikeFighter]

I for one welcome our new simian overlords.

[Superman]

"Help! The human's about to escape!"

"Get your paws off me, you dirty ape!"

*gasp*

He can talk!

[Gandalf]

This is certainly awesome.

Will they ever refine the spearmaking as time goes on, so we'll see them with slightly better spear in a decade or so?

Because that would just be amazing, the idea that animals are doing something like this makes me smile and be filled with awe.

"Help! The human's about to escape!"

"Get your paws off me, you dirty ape!"

*gasp*

He can talk!

He can talk He can talk. He can talk. He can talk.

I can siiiiiiiiing!

[Darth Fanboy]

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=104790

In that thread, just as in this one the first post immediately following was some variation of the "new ____ overlords" line.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

This is certainly awesome.

Will they ever refine the spearmaking as time goes on, so we'll see them with slightly better spear in a decade or so?

Because that would just be amazing, the idea that animals are doing something like this makes me smile and be filled with awe.

That largely depends on the adaptability of bushbabies, and on just how much sophistication a chimpanzee is capable of. With live wood and teeth, there's only so far you can carry spearmaking. To get a better spear, one needs to be able to master the concept of using stone tools to do the fashioning. You can get a better point that way. To advance the sharpened-stick type spear even further, you have to know how to use fire . . . so you can fire-harden the end of the spear. At which point, you've exhaused the sharpened-stick-spear tech tree. To go beyond that requires working out how to fasten a stone point onto the end of a wooden shaft. But, by then, you've likely comfortably exceeded the mental capacity of the common savannah chimpanzee.

[Death from the Sea]

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=104790

In that thread, just as in this one the first post immediately following was some variation of the "new ____ overlords" line.

and they also started singing the song in the other thread too

[kheegster]

I wonder if humanity would impose some form of Prime Directive on simian evolution.

[AidanMcfay]

Now they have spears.... next it will be boards with nails in them.

One day they will build a board with a nail in it soo big..... HAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Plushie]

I am so tempted to head over to where these chimps live and hand them a proper spear, titanium tip and some sort of hard plastic for the haft.

[Durandal]

I hate every ape I see, from chimpan-a to chimpan-z ...

[Flagg]

I hate every ape I see, from chimpan-a to chimpan-z ...

Oh my god, I was wrong
It was Earth all along
They finally made a monkey

Yes we finally made a monkey

Oh, they finally made a monkey out of me

I love you Doctor Zaius!

[Raesene]

"Can I play the piano anymore ?"

"of xourse you can"

"well I could not before !"



Must be a good time to be an anthropologist or a zoologist studying primates. that will provide a few topics for seminar talks and papers.

But tool use is not new for chimpanzees, don't they use sticks to fish termites out of their nests (iirc)?

[Solauren]

Why, why, why?

Why is it, one of the most intelligent boards on the Internet, you hear about primates developing tools, and you all start qouting the same Simpsons episode!?!?!

As long as none of the monkeys are named Caesar, we should be safe for now

[Lord Zentei]

Posted here: linka.

[fgalkin]

What Zentei said, plus it's not like there is a lot of important discussion going on here.



Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin