Tool use among primates

How to cite. Synonyms Elementary technology ; Nonhuman primate tool use ; Physical cognition. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves. This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Aguiar, L. Tool use in urban populations of capuchin monkeys Sapajus spp. Primates: Cebidae. Zoologia, 31 , — CrossRef Google Scholar. Beck, B. Animal tool use. New York: Garland Press. Google Scholar.

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American Journal of Primatology, 64 , — The fourth dimension of tool use: Temporally enduring artifacts aid primates learning to use tools. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, , Galdikas, B.

Journal of Human Evolution, 10 , 19— Goodall, J. The behaviour of free living chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream Reserve Tanzania. Animal Behaviour Monographs, 1 , — Gruber, T. A comparison of bonobo and chimpanzee tool use: Evidence for a female bias in the Pan lineage. Animal Behaviour, 80 , — Grueter, C. Possible tool use in a mountain gorilla.

Behavioural Processes, , — Gumert, M. The physical characteristics and usage patterns of stone axe and pounding hammers used by long-tailed macaques in the Andaman Sea region of Thailand. American Journal of Primatology, 71 , — Haslam, M. Hohmann, G. Koops and colleagues reviewed studies on tool use among the three habitual tool-using primates -- chimpanzees, orangutans and bearded capuchins. Chimpanzees use a variety of tools in a range of contexts, including stones to crack open nuts, and sticks to harvest aggressive army ants.

Orangutans also use stick tools to prey on insects, as well as to extract seeds from fruits. Bearded capuchin monkeys living in savannah-like environments also use a variety of tools, including stones to crack open nuts and sticks to dig for tubers.

The researchers' review of the published literature, including their own studies, revealed that, against expectations, tool use did not increase in times when food was scarce. Instead, tool use appears to be determined by ecological opportunity with calorie-rich but hard-to-reach foodstuffs, such as nuts and honey, appearing to act as an incentive for an ingenious use of materials.

We showed that these ecological opportunities influence the occurrence of tool use. The resources extracted using tools, such as nuts and honey, are among the richest in primate habitats. Hence, extraction pays off, and not just during times of food scarcity," said Koops.

Tool use -- and transmission of tool-making and tool-using skills between individuals -- is seen as an important marker in the development of culture. It has been argued that culture is present among wild primates because simple ecological and genetic differences alone cannot account for the variation in behaviour -- such as tool use -- observed across populations of the same species. Koops and co-researchers argue that this 'method of exclusion' may present a misleading picture when applied to the material aspects of culture.

In forests with plenty of nut trees, we are more likely to find chimpanzees cracking nuts, which is the textbook example of chimpanzee material culture," said Koops. We propose a model in which the environment is explicitly recognised as a possible influence on material culture.

Chimpanzees have often been the object of study in regard to their usage of tools, most famously by Jane Goodall, since these animals are frequently kept in captivity and are closely related to humans. A total of primate species were represented in the phylogenetic tree and had published brain and innovation data strepsirrhines: 39 species, tarsids: 3 species, platyrrhines: 49 species, catarrhines: 76 species.

Bears habitually rub against stationary objects and overturn rocks and boulders during foraging and such rubbing behaviour could have been transferred to a freely movable object to classify as tool-use. Animals commonly invent new patterns of behaviour, modify their existing behaviour to new contexts, or respond to social and ecological changes in novel ways.

Animal innovation is highly diverse. Orangutans Orangutans are among the most intelligent primates. They use a variety of sophisticated tools and construct elaborate sleeping nests each night from branches and foliage.

Approximately 1, articles in four primate journals Primates, American Journal of Primatology, Folia Primatologica, and the International Journal of Primatology , as well as other relevant literature, were searched for examples of innovation, social learning, and tool use. How is social intelligence related to primate intelligence? Social intelligence hypotheses posit that complex social interaction was responsible for the selection pressures that favored enhanced primate intelligence.

This proposal is currently the focus of considerable attention, with social learning commonly regarded as a core aspect of social intelligence 5 — 7. How are social learning and innovation related to brain size? Social learning, innovation, and tool use have all been proposed as explanations for the evolution of enhanced brain size in primates 1, 4 — 6, 44, 45 , so these authors would predict a positive relationship between relative brain size specifically, executive brain or neocortex size and the frequency of these behavior patterns.

Which is the only animal to use tools? Carnivores of the order Carnivora can use tools to trap prey or break open the shells of prey, as well as for scratching. Corvids crows, ravens and rooks are well known for their large brains among birds and tool use.

New Caledonian crows are among the only animals that create their own tools. Table of Contents.