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October 18, 2005
More on Gorilla Tool Use
Not so long ago I wrote of the first reports of gorilla's using tools in the wild. New reports show even more complex tool use including the "hammer and anvil" technique for crushing nuts.
An infant gorilla in a Congo sanctuary is smashing palm nuts between two rocks to extract oil, surprising and intriguing scientists who say they have much to learn about what gorillas can do -- and about what that says about evolution.It had been thought that the premeditated use of stones and sticks to accomplish a task like cracking nuts was restricted to humans and the smaller, more agile chimpanzees.
Then, in late September, keepers at a Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International sanctuary in this eastern Congo city saw 2 1/2-year-old female gorilla Itebero smashing palm nuts between rocks in the "hammer and anvil" technique, considered among the most complex tool use behaviors. [CNN]
The earlier report of tool use involved using a stick to judge the depth of a stream. This new observation is of a more complex activity. However, the report also says that Itevero developed the behavior spontaneously. While the concern in the article was to show that Itevero did not learn the behavior from humans, it appears that she did not learn it from other gorilla's either. So, unlike humans, chimps and possibly orangutans who do seem to have a tool culture, there is as yet no evidence that gorilla's propagate the knowledge of how to use tools.
One small quibble, the article does not mention that orangutans in Gunung Leuser National Park also use tools. But as far as is known, orangutans in Borneo do not. This may indicate that orangutans also learn from each other. Of course, tool use among other animals is also well documented. There is a good story on how birds like the Egyptian vulture, the woodpecker finch and the green heron all uses tools. But these common behaviors are likely best explained by convergent evolution and each example among birds likely a separate case of convergent evolution. While among apes the predisposition for tool use may well represent a common origin.
Posted by Duane Smith at October 18, 2005 7:53 AM | Read more on Evolution |
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