Dr. Balfanz
14.09.2006, 16:41
Groundbreaking Discovery Of Chimpanzee Tool-Use
Groundbreaking Discovery Of Chimpanzee Tool-Use Reported By Cres Scientist In Cameroon, Africa
Field scientists working in the Ebo forest of Cameroon, Central Africa recently made a groundbreaking discovery when they witnessed chimpanzees using stone hammers to crack open hard-shelled nuts to extract the edible interior. Although scientists have long known that all
studied chimpanzee populations use various tools, there is significant cultural variation in tool-use, and this socially transmitted tradition of hammer use to crack nuts was previously believed to only exist in populations living west of the N'Zo-Sassandra river in Ivory Coast, hundreds of miles away from where it was recently observed.
This unique and unexpected behavior uncovered by Bethan J. Morgan,
Ph.D., from the San Diego Zoo's center for Conservation and Research
for Endangered Species (CRES), and her senior research assistant
Ekwoge E. Abwe will be reported in the August 22 issue of the scientific
journal Current Biology.
"This observation challenges the existing model of the cultural diffusion
of nut-cracking behavior by implying that it has been invented on
multiple occasions," explained Morgan. "Alternatively, if nut-cracking is
an ancient trait in the western chimpanzee populations then there have been extinctions of the behavior in areas between the N'Zo-Sassandra River and the Ebo forest."According to Morgan, this observation raises many interesting questions that deserve further research, such as why this behavior is absent in many wild populations that have access to crackable nut species and suitable tools. What is the rate of invention, and what causes extinction of learned behaviors within populations? Morgan first presented the findings in late June at the International
Primatological Society biannual conference in Uganda.
Groundbreaking Discovery Of Chimpanzee Tool-Use Reported By Cres Scientist In Cameroon, Africa
Field scientists working in the Ebo forest of Cameroon, Central Africa recently made a groundbreaking discovery when they witnessed chimpanzees using stone hammers to crack open hard-shelled nuts to extract the edible interior. Although scientists have long known that all
studied chimpanzee populations use various tools, there is significant cultural variation in tool-use, and this socially transmitted tradition of hammer use to crack nuts was previously believed to only exist in populations living west of the N'Zo-Sassandra river in Ivory Coast, hundreds of miles away from where it was recently observed.
This unique and unexpected behavior uncovered by Bethan J. Morgan,
Ph.D., from the San Diego Zoo's center for Conservation and Research
for Endangered Species (CRES), and her senior research assistant
Ekwoge E. Abwe will be reported in the August 22 issue of the scientific
journal Current Biology.
"This observation challenges the existing model of the cultural diffusion
of nut-cracking behavior by implying that it has been invented on
multiple occasions," explained Morgan. "Alternatively, if nut-cracking is
an ancient trait in the western chimpanzee populations then there have been extinctions of the behavior in areas between the N'Zo-Sassandra River and the Ebo forest."According to Morgan, this observation raises many interesting questions that deserve further research, such as why this behavior is absent in many wild populations that have access to crackable nut species and suitable tools. What is the rate of invention, and what causes extinction of learned behaviors within populations? Morgan first presented the findings in late June at the International
Primatological Society biannual conference in Uganda.