Scottish Primate Research Group, and Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, Scotland, UK.
Curr Biol. 2010 Dec 7;20(23):R1032-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.09.042.
The sight of an animal making and using a tool captivates scientists and laymen alike, perhaps because it forces us to question some of our ideas about human uniqueness. Does the animal know how the tool works? Did it anticipate the need for the tool and make it in advance? To some, this fascination with tools seems arbitrary and anthropocentric; after all, animals engage in many other complex activities, like nest building, and we know that complex behaviour need not be cognitively demanding. But tool-using behaviour can also provide a powerful window into the minds of living animals, and help us to learn what capacities we share with them - and what might have changed to allow for the incontrovertibly unique levels of technology shown by modern humans.
动物制造和使用工具的景象令科学家和门外汉都为之着迷，这也许是因为它迫使我们质疑一些关于人类独特性的观点。动物知道工具是如何工作的吗？它是否预料到需要使用工具，并提前制作了工具？对一些人来说，这种对工具的着迷似乎是随意的和以人类为中心的；毕竟，动物也会从事许多其他复杂的活动，比如筑巢，而且我们知道，复杂的行为不一定需要认知能力。但是，使用工具的行为也可以为我们了解活体动物的思维提供一个强有力的窗口，并帮助我们了解我们与它们有哪些共同的能力——以及有哪些可能发生了变化，从而使现代人类表现出无可争议的独特技术水平。
