Chimp Tool Kit Rivals Ancient Man's

Central African chimpanzees are well-known lovers of honey. What has not been known, until recently, was how complex and well-defined their efforts to procure it were. Researchers recently found a tool kit that had been devised and constructed by chimps in this region in order to get honey, which was still on the kit when it was discovered. While unique in the animal kingdom for its intricacy and complexity, the real interest in these findings has stemmed around the recent comparisons being made between these tool kits and those made by Stone Age humans, and for the same reason.

Christophe Boesch, director of the Department of Primatology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, is comparing stone tool kits made by the Stone Age residents of the Central African home of the chimps. "Tools are used to solve ecological challenges," Boesch said. "The more complex and rewarding a challenge is, the more complex the solutions are going to be." In the central African tropical forests, bees and honey abound. So, "humans and chimpanzees living in such an environment would face similar challenges and, with both having extended learning abilities, would rely upon tools to overcome the challenges." Boesch and his team found similar characteristics in each of the five tools in the kits, which contain pounders, enlargers, collectors, perforators and swabbers.

The chimps, observed by Boesch and his associates in Gabon, used the pounder to break open beehive entrances, then the enlarger to widen hive compartments, before reaching for the collector, which scooped the honey out. The perforators and swabbers are used for underground hives, in order to dig into the ground and honeycomb, then swab out the syrup inside.

While seemingly simple, the act of obtaining honey from underground hives is seen by Boesch and his colleagues as highly complex. They claim it is indicative of the chimps' understanding of the nest structure of the tunnels and 3-dimensional geometry, both of which would be necessary to extract honey untainted by soil.

Boesch and his team had previously been surprised by the use of tools by rooks, whose tool-making skills only appeared when the birds were held in captivity. They were amazed to see captive rooks develop tool making skills to rival those of primates and humans.

However, the rooks still did not best the chimpanzees' honey-garnering tool kit, which remains the most advanced ever seen in the animal kingdom.

"Chimp Made Tool Kit Most Complex Ever Found"

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