"So far this is the only place where the brush manufacture has been described as a design feature, and not a by-product," Call added. "Additional research will tell whether this is unique for this study site." In recent years, scientists have found evidence for other chimp tools, including stone hammers used to crack nuts. Nicknamed "The Chimpanzee Stone Age," primate stone tool use predates the advent of agriculture and may even be a trait that humans also inherited from a common ancestor, theorizes Julio Mercader, a George Washington University anthropologist. Jane Goodall and her colleagues additionally have discovered that chimpanzees in Gombe utilize a variety of objects -- including stems, twigs, branches, leaves and rocks -- in at least nine different ways while feeding, drinking, cleaning themselves, investigating hard-to-reach objects and even for use as weapons. Call thinks it's possible still other animals, aside from chimps, birds and humans, make tools and continue to improve upon their design. He said, "I do not see why other species, if the ecological demands are right, could not invent the use of simple technologies." Related Links: Discovery News Blog: Born Animal Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology |
advertisement
Put Discovery News on Your Site!
|
-
our sites
-
video
mobile
-
shop
-
stay connected
-
corporate
