Chimpanzees 'hunt Using Spears'

[Fweethawt]

Chimpanzees 'hunt using spears'

 

Chimpanzees in Senegal have been observed making and using wooden spears to hunt other primates, according to a study in the journal Current Biology.

 

 

Researchers documented 22 cases of chimps fashioning tools to jab at smaller primates sheltering in cavities of hollow branches or tree trunks.

 

The report's authors, Jill Pruetz and Paco Bertolani, said the finding could have implications for human evolution.

 

Chimps had not been previously observed hunting other animals with tools.

 

Pruetz and Bertolani made the discovery at their research site in Fongoli, Senegal, between March 2005 and July 2006.

 

"There were hints that this behaviour might occur, but it was one time at a different site," said Jill Pruetz, assistant professor of anthropology at Iowa State University, US.

 

"While in Senegal for the spring semester, I saw about 13 different hunting bouts. So it really is habitual."

 

Jabbing weapon

 

Chimpanzees were observed jabbing the spears into hollow trunks or branches, over and over again. After the chimp removed the tool, it would frequently smell or lick it.

 

In the vast majority of cases, the chimps used the tools in the manner of a spear, not as probes. The researchers say they were using enough force to injure an animal that may have been hiding inside.

 

However, they did not photograph the behaviour, or capture it on film.

 

In one case, Pruetz and Bertolani, from the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies in Cambridge, UK, witnessed a chimpanzee extract a bushbaby with a spear.

 

In most cases, the Fongoli chimpanzees carried out four or more steps to manufacture spears for hunting.

 

In all but one of the cases, chimps broke off a living branch to make their tool. They would then trim the side branches and leaves.

 

In a number of cases, chimps also trimmed the ends of the branch and stripped it of bark. Some chimps also sharpened the tip of the tool with their teeth.

 

Female lead

 

Adult males have long been regarded as the hunters in chimp groups.

 

But the authors of the paper in Current Biology said females, particularly adolescent females, and young chimps in general were seen exhibiting this behaviour more frequently than adult males.

 

"It's classic in primates that when there is a new innovation, particularly in terms of tool use, the younger generations pick it up very quickly. The last ones to pick up are adults, mainly the males," said Dr Pruetz, who led the National Geographic Society-funded project.

 

This is because young chimps pick the skill up from their mothers, with whom they spend a lot of their time.

 

"It's a niche that males seem to ignore," Dr Pruetz told BBC News.

 

Many areas where chimpanzees live are also home to the red colobus monkey, which the chimps hunt. However, the Senegal site is lacking in this species, so chimps may have needed to adopt a new hunting strategy to catch a different prey - bushbaby.

 

The authors conclude that their findings support a theory that females may have played a similarly important role in the evolution of tool technology among early humans.

 

 

 

FROM HERE

[Amanda]

<snip> Chimps had not been previously observed hunting other animals with tools.

 

<snip>In the vast majority of cases, the chimps used the tools in the manner of a spear, not as probes. The researchers say they were using enough force to injure an animal that may have been hiding inside.

 

<snip> In one case, Pruetz and Bertolani, from the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies in Cambridge, UK, witnessed a chimpanzee extract a bushbaby with a spear.

 

Fwee, thanks for this article! It may give a whole new meaning to Planet of the Apes.

 

I was rather surprised to find that chimpanzees are carnivorous! So they jab their prey enough to significantly injure them, then drag them out of the hole, then eat them?

[chefranden]

Two Chimps caught studying the concepts of mouse trappery via game stolen from a couple of missionary kids.

[Antlerman]

Two Chimps caught studying the concepts of mouse trappery via game stolen from a couple of missionary kids.

That's a totally doctored image Chef

 

So yeah, they're learning how to make spears. Big deal. We did that like what, 2 million years ago!? We've got machine guns, flame throwers and nukes. All they have are sharp sticks, a nasty disposition and disgusting table manners! So who do you think is going to rule this planet? Them? Ha! No chimp is going to put us in a cage and cut our brains out to silence us!

 

[scitsofreaky]

This blog about these chimps actually has a picture of a chimp eating a bush baby. So ha!

[woodsmoke]

I was rather surprised to find that chimpanzees are carnivorous! So they jab their prey enough to significantly injure them, then drag them out of the hole, then eat them?

 

Minor nit-pick: chimps aren't carnivorous, they're omnivorous; just like humans.

[neverclear5]

I was rather surprised to find that chimpanzees are carnivorous! So they jab their prey enough to significantly injure them, then drag them out of the hole, then eat them?

 

You should see a chimp hunting party. They mainly hunt small monkeys and they are vicious. They have also been observed "murdering" i.e. a group go out looking for an individual and kill him, not for food. Socially, they're a lot more similar to us than we'd like to think. Of course they also share a lot of our nicer qualities

[KT45]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6387611.stm

 

Chimpanzees 'hunt using spears'

Chimpanzees in Senegal have been observed making and using wooden spears to hunt other primates, according to a study in the journal Current Biology.

Researchers documented 22 cases of chimps fashioning tools to jab at smaller primates sheltering in cavities of hollow branches or tree trunks.

 

The report's authors, Jill Pruetz and Paco Bertolani, said the finding could have implications for human evolution.

 

Chimps had not been previously observed hunting other animals with tools.

 

Pruetz and Bertolani made the discovery at their research site in Fongoli, Senegal, between March 2005 and July 2006.

 

"There were hints that this behaviour might occur, but it was one time at a different site," said Jill Pruetz, assistant professor of anthropology at Iowa State University, US.

 

"While in Senegal for the spring semester, I saw about 13 different hunting bouts. So it really is habitual."

 

Jabbing weapon

 

Chimpanzees were observed jabbing the spears into hollow trunks or branches, over and over again. After the chimp removed the tool, it would frequently smell or lick it.

 

In the vast majority of cases, the chimps used the tools in the manner of a spear, not as probes. The researchers say they were using enough force to injure an animal that may have been hiding inside.

 

However, they did not photograph the behaviour, or capture it on film.

 

 

In one case, Pruetz and Bertolani, from the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies in Cambridge, UK, witnessed a chimpanzee extract a bushbaby with a spear.

In most cases, the Fongoli chimpanzees carried out four or more steps to manufacture spears for hunting.

 

In all but one of the cases, chimps broke off a living branch to make their tool. They would then trim the side branches and leaves.

 

In a number of cases, chimps also trimmed the ends of the branch and stripped it of bark. Some chimps also sharpened the tip of the tool with their teeth.

 

Female lead

 

Adult males have long been regarded as the hunters in chimp groups.

 

But the authors of the paper in Current Biology said females, particularly adolescent females, and young chimps in general were seen exhibiting this behaviour more frequently than adult males.

 

"It's classic in primates that when there is a new innovation, particularly in terms of tool use, the younger generations pick it up very quickly. The last ones to pick up are adults, mainly the males," said Dr Pruetz, who led the National Geographic Society-funded project.

 

This is because young chimps pick the skill up from their mothers, with whom they spend a lot of their time.

 

"It's a niche that males seem to ignore," Dr Pruetz told BBC News.

 

Many areas where chimpanzees live are also home to the red colobus monkey, which the chimps hunt. However, the Senegal site is lacking in this species, so chimps may have needed to adopt a new hunting strategy to catch a different prey - bushbaby.

 

The authors conclude that their findings support a theory that females may have played a similarly important role in the evolution of tool technology among early humans.

 

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/6387611.stm

[Dave]

Wow! Last night on that Planet Earth series, they showed a chimp raiding party defending the boundary of their territory. They ate one of the invaders.

[Evolution_beyond]

I wonder sometimes as we discover more and more human-like skills that chimps can do, whether they have always had these skills or whether they are gradually evolving and have learnt some of these things during the course of our studies. Chimps are amazingly adaptive creatures and our own studies and experiments with regards to what they are capable of can't have had a totally null effect on their own development as a species. Maybe we have unwittingly acted as a catalyst for their evolution and chimps are becoming more 'human' all the time due to their interaction with us.

 

Just a thought.

 

I find apes and other primates endlessly fascinating. Those creationists are so ignorant and insensitive towards the beauty and wonder of nature, and apes in particular, when they act offended and appalled at the idea that we are descended from apes.

[Grandpa Harley]

Simians are not the only tool makers. There is a species of crow that modifies flint flakes for opening bivalves... and that folks is Tool making.

[Dave]

I find apes and other primates endlessly fascinating. Those creationists are so ignorant and insensitive towards the beauty and wonder of nature, and apes in particular, when they act offended and appalled at the idea that we are descended from apes.

The other apes might be insulted to learn that we descended from them. Although this story puts new light on that..... we've only evolved physically.

[Dave]

Simians are not the only tool makers. There is a species of crow that modifies flint flakes for opening bivalves... and that folks is Tool making.

I remember, long ago, we were told that humans we were different from animals (not other animals) because we made tools.

When that was falsified they told us we were different from animals because we play.

When that was falsified they told us we were different from animals because we can think.

When that was falsified.....

 

The moral is that humans are animals, no different than any other animal. Every aspect of "human nature" can be found elsewhere in nature.

[Grandpa Harley]

since we didn't evolve from chimps, just a common ancestor, I'd say we'd diverged not evolved...

 

Me, toilet trained by Mossad trained rabbis and Special Forces trained Jesuits... surely not!

[Dave]

since we didn't evolve from chimps, just a common ancestor, I'd say we'd diverged not evolved...

The chimps would be glad to hear that. They only spear each other. We can blow up whole countries. Who's evolved?

 

Me, toilet trained by Mossad trained rabbis and Special Forces trained Jesuits... surely not!

I was raised by bears. Does it show?

[Grandpa Harley]

since we didn't evolve from chimps, just a common ancestor, I'd say we'd diverged not evolved...

The chimps would be glad to hear that. They only spear each other. We can blow up whole countries. Who's evolved?

 

Me, toilet trained by Mossad trained rabbis and Special Forces trained Jesuits... surely not!

I was raised by bears. Does it show?

Only when you crap in the woods... and then you're in line with Deutronic standards of going for a shit...

[Dave]

Only when you crap in the woods... and then you're in line with Deutronic standards of going for a shit...

I have read the book. Since my job sometimes entails weeks in the back country.....

[Grandpa Harley]

I'll have to tell ee the tale of what happened when my dad and some mates stopped for a comfort break while driving a 500 tonne crane to the Isle of White.

[Barnacle Bill]

Simians are not the only tool makers. There is a species of crow that modifies flint flakes for opening bivalves... and that folks is Tool making.

 

...and speaking of crows and ingenuity, this YouTube clip appears to support that thesis as well.

[Vixentrox]

Sea otters use "tools" in the form of rocks they use to open tough shellfish.

[Grandpa Harley]

Sea otters use "tools" in the form of rocks they use to open tough shellfish.

Strictly speaking that isn't tool making. It's an unmodified rock. But its a good opptunist use of what is 'to paw'...

[LosingMyReligion]

I wonder sometimes as we discover more and more human-like skills that chimps can do, whether they have always had these skills or whether they are gradually evolving and have learnt some of these things during the course of our studies. Chimps are amazingly adaptive creatures and our own studies and experiments with regards to what they are capable of can't have had a totally null effect on their own development as a species. Maybe we have unwittingly acted as a catalyst for their evolution and chimps are becoming more 'human' all the time due to their interaction with us.

 

Just a thought.

 

I find apes and other primates endlessly fascinating. Those creationists are so ignorant and insensitive towards the beauty and wonder of nature, and apes in particular, when they act offended and appalled at the idea that we are descended from apes.

 

I couldn't have said it better! The natural world is so fascinating to me. The great apes are wondrous creatures. I don't understand some creationists. The whole idea is just retarded.

 

My question is why are Chimpanzees taking to murdering and cannibalizing one another...

 

Then again the samething can be said of humans!

[woodsmoke]

Simians are not the only tool makers. There is a species of crow that modifies flint flakes for opening bivalves... and that folks is Tool making.

 

...and speaking of crows and ingenuity, this YouTube clip appears to support that thesis as well.

 

See, it's stuff like that right there makes me think very hard about majoring in wildlife biology.

 

Absolutely incredible.

[Grandpa Harley]

I wonder sometimes as we discover more and more human-like skills that chimps can do, whether they have always had these skills or whether they are gradually evolving and have learnt some of these things during the course of our studies. Chimps are amazingly adaptive creatures and our own studies and experiments with regards to what they are capable of can't have had a totally null effect on their own development as a species. Maybe we have unwittingly acted as a catalyst for their evolution and chimps are becoming more 'human' all the time due to their interaction with us.

 

Just a thought.

 

I find apes and other primates endlessly fascinating. Those creationists are so ignorant and insensitive towards the beauty and wonder of nature, and apes in particular, when they act offended and appalled at the idea that we are descended from apes.

 

I couldn't have said it better! The natural world is so fascinating to me. The great apes are wondrous creatures. I don't understand some creationists. The whole idea is just retarded.

 

My question is why are Chimpanzees taking to murdering and cannibalizing one another...

 

Then again the samething can be said of humans!

 

IT tends to be a symptom of stress of limited resource. If they have enough space and food, you'll get skirmishes, but not killings, stealing of females and eating of young.

[Fweethawt]

I merged the two threads.