Research results show that chimpanzees use tools to enhance competition

A new study published in the journal Science shows that chimpanzees have steadily honed their tool-using skills, a process that has unfolded over thousands of years through the exchange of ideas through migration between populations.
“Planet of the Apes” may have been on to something.
Chimpanzees have steadily honed their tool-using skills, a process that has unfolded over thousands of years through the exchange of ideas through movement between populations, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal Science. .
The findings in chimpanzees, humans’ closest living relatives, also have relevance for us. It supports the idea that deep in the mists of time, our own ape ancestors used social connections to improve technology, lead author Cassandra Gunasekaram told AFP. Ta.
Scientists have long marveled at chimpanzees’ ability to pass on complex behaviors such as tool use from generation to generation.
But while human civilization leapt from the Stone Age to the Space Age, chimpanzee “culture,” defined as socially learned behavior, seemed to remain static.
Gunasekaram, a PhD student at the University of Zurich, began to challenge this assumption.
Connections drive innovation
They combined genetic data tracking ancient chimpanzee migrations across Africa with observations of 15 different foraging behaviors across dozens of populations and four subspecies.
These behaviors were categorized into three levels. Some require no tools, some use simple tools such as using chewed leaves as a sponge to absorb water through holes in a tree, and the most complex require a tool set.
One notable example of the use of the toolset was in the Congo, where chimpanzees used thick sticks to tunnel into the ground to reach termite nests and bite the tips of plant stems into brush. They modified it to “fish” the termites inside the tunnel.
The study found that the use of advanced tools was strongly correlated with populations connected by genetic exchange over the past 5,000 to 15,000 years, and that such behaviors spread when populations interacted. It suggests that.
Areas where the three subspecies overlap showed the most complex tool use, highlighting how connections between groups foster cultural knowledge.
In contrast, simple behaviors such as foraging without tools are less likely to be associated with migration and are likely to have evolved independently in different regions.
forage efficiently
Gunasekaram said this reflects how important trading ideas and incremental innovations have been to human technological progress, from the early abacus to modern smartphones.
“They’ve become so complex that no one person can reinvent them from scratch,” she says.
But unlike humans, chimpanzees have far fewer opportunities to encounter new individuals and ideas. Migration occurs gradually as sexually mature females move to new communities to avoid inbreeding.
By analyzing ancient genetic flow, the research team is able to address one of the biggest challenges in studying the evolution of chimpanzee culture, since this species has only been scientifically studied for about a century. , which helped overcome the challenge of limited observation range.
Additionally, “chimpanzee tools are made of sticks and stalks, all of which are perishable,” Gunasekaram explained, so it’s difficult to track how their artifacts evolved over time. It has become almost impossible.
So will chimpanzees one day match human ingenuity? It’s unlikely. But given enough time, they could become more efficient at foraging.
For example, some groups are already more advanced at cracking nuts using hammers and stone anvils, and one particularly innovative group even invented stabilizers for anvils, Gunasekaram said. said.
Further information: Cassandra Gunasekaram et al., Population connectivity shapes cumulative cultural distribution and complexity in chimpanzees, Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adk3381
© 2024 AFP
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