The survival techniques of West African chimpanzees have revealed that the first human weapons may have been developed by women.
The use of spears and axes to hunt and kill is commonly thought to have been pioneered among humanity's ancestors by males, but research has indicated weapons may have been a female invention that compensated for their lesser size and strength.
Anthropologists' observations of chimpanzees in Senegal have revealed they gnaw the ends of sticks to create rudimentary spears, which they use to hunt bushbabies, a small primate.
The findings are the first evidence of the systematic use of weapons in a species other than humans - and they are intriguing because all but one of the chimps using the spears were females or immature males.
This gender imbalance has led scientists to theorise that female chimps pioneered hunting with weapons as the only way in which they could compete with the physically stronger males to add animal protein to their diets. While males can hunt with their bare hands, females need weapons to help them.
"Females have to come up with creative ways at getting at a problem, whereas males have brawn," said Jill Pruetz, of Iowa State University, who led the research.
The findings support a hypothesis that women played an integral part in the development of weapons for hunting, and other kinds of tools. [...]
Dr Pruetz said the findings suggested that chimps, the closest animal relatives of humans, were more similar to humans in behaviour than previously thought.
What a great gig. Note how seamlessly the behaviour of a few modern female chimps translates into a blanket conclusion about arguably the most important event in human pre-history. We don't want to spoil the party, but given all those biologists frantically trying to teach these critters how to talk or type or whatever, isn't mimicking observed human behaviour a more plausible explanation?
3 comments:
"Females have to come up with creative ways at getting at a problem, whereas males have brawn,"
As nice a summary of the modern academy as I've seen.
Does this mean that women are ultimately responsible for the threat of human extinction due to nuclear weapons ?
Of course not, silly! The moment the first flint was flaked, our doom was foreordained. Despite the best efforts of women, chefs, saints and artists.
Stop bothering with these silly scientists and read your poets. That's the only way you'll learn what's right.
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