Boesch and his team believe the chimps must therefore possess "an elaborate understanding of unseen nest structure, combined with a clear appreciation that tools permit the location of unseen resources, and a precise three-dimensional use of geometry for reaching the honey chamber from the correct angle." The chimp discoveries come on the heels of a recent study on captive rooks, a member of the crow family. These birds make and modify tools, such as bended hooks and stone catapults, using at least two such tools in a sequence. "This finding is remarkable because rooks do not appear to use tools in the wild, yet they rival habitual tools users such as chimpanzees and New Caledonian crows when tested in captivity," said University of Cambridge researcher Chris Bird, who led the avian project. Boesch was pleasantly surprised by the rook ingenuity and agrees that tool know-how isn't restricted to humans and our closest living primate relatives. He added, "What seems so special in humans and chimpanzees is the ubiquity of tool use -- seen in all studied populations of each species -- and the flexibility of the techniques." Related Links: Discovery News Blog: Born Animal Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology HowStuffWorks.com: Are Chimps Evolving in the Wild? |
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