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C H I M P F A C T S
Tool UseProbably no other facet of chimpanzee behavior has received more notice than the manufacture and use of tools. Tool use includes pounding of nuts and hard shells with sticks and stone hammers, probing for honey and insects with twigs and grass stalks, poking at unfamiliar items with sticks, prying open ant nests with small branches, and sponging water from hollow trees with wads of crumpled leaves. It takes considerable time for chimpanzees to perfect tool-using skills. According to Christoph Boesch, who studies chimpanzees in the Tai Forest of the Ivory Coast, it takes them ten years to efficiently use hammers and anvils to open palm nuts. A nut must be hit at just the right angle and hard enough to crack the shell without pulverizing the nut. Dr. Boesch writes: "Time and again, we have been impressed to see a chimpanzee raise a 20lb stone above its head, strike a nut with ten or more powerful blows, and then, using the same stone, switch to delicate little taps from a height of only four inches." Similarly, it takes four or five years to succeed at fishing termites from a mound using a stick or stem. First, the chimpanzee must locate the tunnel entrances which have been sealed by the workers. Next, a stick must be chosen which is flexible but not so flimsy that it will collapse in the winding tunnels. The stick is moved about in the tunnel to entice the termites to bite, then smoothly withdrawn so as not to lose any of the termites which have taken hold. Finally, the chimp must eat them without getting bitten. During two termite collecting seasons at Gombe in Tanzania, Geza Teleki followed the chimpanzees on their daily rounds of termite mounds. To better understand the intricacies involved, Dr. Teleki practiced fishing alongside the chimpanzees. At the end of the second season he was unable to achieve the chimpanzees' level of competence at selecting proper probes or in locating tunnels. He often resorted to using his pocket knife to uncover sealed entrances. » Back | |||||||||||||
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