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Chimpanzees Teach Youngsters to Use Tools, Study Shows
Developing
In Short: Chimpanzees are observed teaching their young how to use tools, challenging the notion that such behavior is unique to humans.
Chimpanzees are known to teach their young how to use tools, according to a new study. This behavior, previously thought to be a defining feature of humans, is now being observed in the wild. Researchers found that adult chimpanzees deliberately model the behavior and then pass tools to the youngsters, allowing them to mimic the same actions.
The study, which involved observing chimpanzees in Senegal, also noted that the adult chimps often forgo food to help their young learn. This suggests that tool transfers are a form of teaching, facilitating the learning of young individuals. The findings support the idea that teaching helps immature chimps acquire technological skills, challenging the notion that human culture is uniquely special.
According to co-author Andreu Sánchez-Megías, a graduate student at the University of Barcelona and the Jane Goodall Institute Spain, 'Receiving food and tools from experienced individuals, which we call food or tool transfer, may help chimpanzees learn to use technology to extract foods that are difficult to access.' This behavior has been observed in various contexts, such as using moss as a sponge to soak up water from a pond, and crafting simple spears for hunting.
The study, which was published in Newscientist, involved placing cameras near 14 sites in the area where wild western chimpanzees had previously been recorded using tools. The researchers noted that the teaching behavior was not just passive observation but active coaching, supporting the idea that chimpanzees can actively teach each other.
What's still developing
- Chimpanzees are known to be social learners, and according to the authors, prior research has shown that chimpanzees’ mirror neurons fire in response to both actions directed to objects (transitive) and not directed to objects (intransitive), much like humans.
- When he learned of the behavior, Goodall’s mentor, Louis Leakey, famously observed, “Now we must redefine ‘tool,’ redefine ‘man,’ or accept chimpanzees as humans.” Since then, chimps have been observed making sponges out of leaves to soak up liquids, shaping sticks to collect algae, and sharpening rudimentary spears for hunting.
- A multidecade study of wild chickadees shows how smart they need to be to survive Researchers have tagged this wild mountain chickadee as part of a long-term cognition study of the species in the Sierra Nevada range.
- Now the team is studying the consequences of such long lives.
- Richmond, of the University of Nevada, Reno, and her UNR colleagues trek year-round to the Sierras to study this remarkable ability — by snowmobile when necessary.
Sources
- Newscientistlink