chimpanzees using stone tools

[David Morris]

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/144/nation/Study_finds_chimpanzees_putting_stone_tools_to_good_use+.shtml

A band of chimpanzees in West Africa routinely swing crude stone hammers to 
crack open nuts, a sophisticated use of tools the apes have been teaching to 
each new generation for more than a century.

Using carefully selected stones weighing up to 33 pounds, the chimps pound 
the shell of the panda nut to extract a high-energy kernel that is an 
important part of the animal's diet, researchers report today in the journal 
Science.

''It is a very skillful behavior that takes up to seven years for them to 
learn,'' said Melissa Panger, a George Washington University researcher and 
coauthor of the study. ''It looks easy, but if you sit down and try it is a 
very difficult task.''

The panda nuts fall to the ground inside an outer husk. Inside the husk is a 
nut covered by a shell that can require up to a ton of pressure to open. 
Yet, if the animals pound too hard, the nut shatters and is inedible, Panger 
said.

''What is remarkable is that they are controlling the force precisely,'' she 
added.





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