Thursday, February 22, 2007

HEY MOM, I JUST RE-INVENTED THE WHEEL

From: Chimpanzees 'hunt using spears' (BBC, February 22nd, 2007)

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.

From: Jane Goodall Institute

At first, the Gombe chimps fled whenever they saw Jane. But she persisted, watching from a distance with binoculars, and gradually the chimps allowed her closer. One day in October 1960 she saw chimps David Graybeard and Goliath strip leaves off twigs to fashion tools for fishing termites from a nest. Scientists thought humans were the only species to make tools, but here was evidence to the contrary. On hearing of Jane's observation, her mentor Louis Leakey said: "Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees as humans."

Also in her first year at Gombe, Jane observed chimps hunting and eating bushpigs and other animals, disproving theories that chimpanzees were primarily vegetarians and fruit eaters who only occasionally supplemented their diet with insects and small rodents.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Unfortunately chimpanzees are not advanced enough to file patents on their inventions.

erp said...

Which one is the ditziest? Jane Goodall or Diane Fossey? Other candidates?

Unknown said...

Not fond of primate research, are we erp?

erp said...

Is that what they're doing?

Unknown said...

I sense there's a rant in there somewhere just waiting to come out.

Brian said...

Forget the chimp-human comparison. We're much closer to rhesus macaque monkeys, who will pay to see photos of female (monkey) bare bottoms and "celebrity" monkeys.

http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/050128_monkey_business.html

Brian said...

Here's the monkey link again.