Well, this certainly gives us some insight into how our early ancestors began making and using tools.

Chimpanzees living in the West African savannah have been observed fashioning deadly spears from sticks and using the tools to hunt small mammals -- the first routine production of deadly weapons ever observed in animals other than humans.

The multistep spearmaking practice, documented by researchers in Senegal who spent years gaining the chimpanzees' trust, adds credence to the idea that human forebears fashioned similar tools millions of years ago.

The landmark observation also supports the long-debated proposition that females -- the main makers and users of spears among the Senegalese chimps -- tend to be the innovators and creative problem solvers in primate culture.

Using their hands and teeth, the chimpanzees were repeatedly seen tearing the side branches off long, straight sticks, peeling back the bark and sharpening one end. Then, grasping the weapons in a "power grip," they jabbed them into tree-branch hollows where bush babies -- small, monkeylike mammals -- sleep during the day.

I suspect there will be a lot more study of this behavior over the course the next few decades, including whether this was independently developed behavior or whether the chimps were in some way contaminated by human interaction.

Personally, though, I won't worry much until they start observing monkeys making firearms.

Posted by: Greg at 04:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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