Chimpanzees with Spears

[Cynical Cat]

linkage

Chimpanzees 'hunt using spears'
Chimp tool Image: Current Biology
Chimps sharpened the spears with their teeth
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.

[Cynical Cat]

Ack. Posted in wrong forum. Can some kind person please move it? Thanks.

[LadyTevar]

I'm assuming you wanted it moved here....

[Josh]

Rock on, fellow primates!

[frigidmagi]

Now should I be happy that a fellow band of primates has figured out the tech of pointy sticks or alarmed that another specis as increaed it's killing potential? Hmmm.

[Josh]

Now should I be happy that a fellow band of primates has figured out the tech of pointy sticks or alarmed that another specis as increaed it's killing potential? Hmmm.

Personally, I'm ecstatic. Maybe they'll be the ones who finally get the gumption to get us off this fucking rock.

[frigidmagi]

I told you I was working on it! I'm gonna need a few decades is all.

[Josh]

I told you I was working on it! I'm gonna need a few decades is all.

You know damn well that I'm as patient as I am prudent.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Now should I be happy that a fellow band of primates has figured out the tech of pointy sticks or alarmed that another specis as increaed it's killing potential? Hmmm.

Oh, please. If they start to pose a threat to us, we just whip out our M16s and AKs and mow them down.

[Feil]

This is quite nifty. Pity they're not better-adapted to walking on two legs; I'd imagine that would do more to encourage the spread of tool use.

[Mayabird]

It makes me wonder how many unknown tools existed in the past because they don't survive as well as rocks. Australopithecus may have walked around with digging sticks for roots and used sticks as spears, but we'll probably never know.