Brooks James, Yamamoto Shinya
Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Institute for Advanced Study, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Front Psychol. 2021 Jan 13;11:577100. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.577100. eCollection 2020.
Tool use is a central topic in research on cognitive evolution and behavioral ecology in non-human animals. Originally thought to be a uniquely human phenomenon, many other species have been observed making and using tools for a variety of purposes, starting with Goodall's (1964) groundbreaking work with chimpanzees in Gombe. Despite the frequent attention and great research interest in animal tool use, and ubiquity of the behavior, we argue here that chewing sticks by dogs (and other animals) should be included as a case of tool use. We discuss alternate possible explanations and then propose several testable predictions regarding this hypothesis. We suggest that tool use may be more common than is often assumed and that many cases of animal tool use may be overlooked.
工具使用是关于非人类动物认知进化和行为生态学研究的核心主题。最初被认为是人类独有的现象，但从古道尔1964年在贡贝对黑猩猩的开创性研究开始，人们观察到许多其他物种出于各种目的制造和使用工具。尽管动物工具使用受到了频繁关注和极大的研究兴趣，且这种行为很普遍，但我们在此认为，狗（以及其他动物）咀嚼树枝应被视为工具使用的一个案例。我们讨论了其他可能的解释，然后针对这一假设提出了几个可检验的预测。我们认为，工具使用可能比通常认为的更为普遍，而且许多动物工具使用的案例可能被忽视了。
