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patgundTool Use Observed in 2nd Group of Chimps
"The noise came from the trees: crack, crack, crack.
As the researchers and their village guides crept closer, they saw something that was not supposed to be happening in the Ebo forest in the central African nation of Cameroon: chimpanzees using rocks as hammers to break open tough-shelled nuts.
Previous research had found that kind of tool use only in chimps 1,000 miles away, across the wide N'Zo-Sassandra River in Ivory Coast. Researchers thought the behavior was either a genetic trait or maybe a learned skill passed from one generation to another.
The discovery of tool use among chimps in Cameroon, separated from their cousins in Ivory Coast by the "information barrier" of the river, suggests that the skill was invented independently in each place, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Current Biology.
Lead author Bethan J. Morgan, a postdoctoral researcher from the San Diego Zoo, and senior research assistant Ekwoge E. Abwe reported seeing three adult chimps breaking coula nuts with quartz stones. When the animals spotted the researchers, a female chimp and a chimp of undetermined gender fled, but a male stayed behind, continuing to break nuts for three minutes."
"The noise came from the trees: crack, crack, crack.
As the researchers and their village guides crept closer, they saw something that was not supposed to be happening in the Ebo forest in the central African nation of Cameroon: chimpanzees using rocks as hammers to break open tough-shelled nuts.
Previous research had found that kind of tool use only in chimps 1,000 miles away, across the wide N'Zo-Sassandra River in Ivory Coast. Researchers thought the behavior was either a genetic trait or maybe a learned skill passed from one generation to another.
The discovery of tool use among chimps in Cameroon, separated from their cousins in Ivory Coast by the "information barrier" of the river, suggests that the skill was invented independently in each place, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Current Biology.
Lead author Bethan J. Morgan, a postdoctoral researcher from the San Diego Zoo, and senior research assistant Ekwoge E. Abwe reported seeing three adult chimps breaking coula nuts with quartz stones. When the animals spotted the researchers, a female chimp and a chimp of undetermined gender fled, but a male stayed behind, continuing to break nuts for three minutes."
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Date: 2006-08-27 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 08:06 pm (UTC)I meant PICTURE IN MY MIND, of course...
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Date: 2006-08-28 03:39 pm (UTC)