Pruetz Jill D, Bertolani Paco
Department of Anthropology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50010, USA.
Curr Biol. 2007 Mar 6;17(5):412-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.12.042. Epub 2007 Feb 22.
Although tool use is known to occur in species ranging from naked mole rats [1] to owls [2], chimpanzees are the most accomplished tool users [3-5]. The modification and use of tools during hunting, however, is still considered to be a uniquely human trait among primates. Here, we report the first account of habitual tool use during vertebrate hunting by nonhumans. At the Fongoli site in Senegal, we observed ten different chimpanzees use tools to hunt prosimian prey in 22 bouts. This includes immature chimpanzees and females, members of age-sex classes not normally characterized by extensive hunting behavior. Chimpanzees made 26 different tools, and we were able to recover and analyze 12 of these. Tool construction entailed up to five steps, including trimming the tool tip to a point. Tools were used in the manner of a spear, rather than a probe or rousing tool. This new information on chimpanzee tool use has important implications for the evolution of tool use and construction for hunting in the earliest hominids, especially given our observations that females and immature chimpanzees exhibited this behavior more frequently than adult males.
尽管已知从裸鼹鼠[1]到猫头鹰[2]等物种都会使用工具，但黑猩猩是最熟练的工具使用者[3 - 5]。然而，在狩猎过程中对工具的改造和使用，在灵长类动物中仍被认为是人类独有的特征。在此，我们报告了首例非人类脊椎动物在狩猎时习惯性使用工具的情况。在塞内加尔的方戈利地区，我们观察到10只不同的黑猩猩在22次捕猎中使用工具捕食原猴类猎物。这其中包括未成年黑猩猩和雌性黑猩猩，它们所属的年龄 - 性别类别通常并不以广泛的狩猎行为为特征。黑猩猩制作了26种不同的工具，我们能够找回并分析其中12种。工具制作过程多达五个步骤，包括将工具尖端修剪成尖状。工具是以长矛的方式使用，而非探针或驱赶工具。这一关于黑猩猩工具使用的新信息，对最早的原始人类狩猎时工具使用和制作的进化具有重要意义，尤其是考虑到我们的观察结果：雌性和未成年黑猩猩比成年雄性更频繁地表现出这种行为。
