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The Chimpanzee Stone Age
February 14, 2007West African chimpanzees have been cracking nuts with stone tools for thousands of years
Researchers have found evidence that chimpanzees from West Africa were cracking nuts with stone tools before the advent of agriculture, thousands of years ago. The result suggests chimpanzees developed this behaviour on their own, or even that stone tool use was a trait inherited from our common ancestor. Julio Mercader, Christophe Boesch and colleagues found the stones at the Noulo site in CĂ'te d'Ivoire, the only known prehistoric chimpanzee settlement. The stones they excavated show the hallmarks of use as tools for smashing nuts when compared to ancient human or modern chimpanzee stone tools. Also, they found several types of starch grains on the stones; part of the residue derived from cracking local nuts. The tools are 4300 years old, which, in human terms, corresponds to the Later Stone Age (PNAS, February 2007).
Before this study, chimpanzees were first observed using stone tools in the 19th century. Now, thanks to this new archaeological find, tool use by chimpanzees has been pushed back thousands of years. The authors suggest this type of tool use could have originated with our common ancestor, instead of arising independently among hominins and chimpanzees or through imitation of humans by chimpanzees.
This study confirmed that chimpanzees and human ancestors share for thousands of years several cultural attributes once thought exclusive of humanity, including transport of raw materials across the landscape; selection and curation of raw materials for a specific type of work and projected usage; habitual reoccupation of sites where garbage and debris accumulate; and the use of locally available resources. Nut cracking behaviour in chimpanzees is transmitted socially, and the new discoveries presented in this study shows that such behaviour has been transmitted over the course of many chimpanzee generations. Chimpanzee prehistory has deep roots!
The study of our living closest relative, the chimpanzee, constantly highlights new aspects of human evolution, and a better protection of this endangered species will guarantee that we can continue uncovering new facets of our past. Relevant finds come from all parts of the African continent, including the rainforest, and not just the classical east African homeland.
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
This study confirmed that chimpanzees and human ancestors share for thousands of years several cultural attributes once thought exclusive of humanity, including transport of raw materials across the landscape; selection and curation of raw materials for a specific type of work and projected usage; habitual reoccupation of sites where garbage and debris accumulate; and the use of locally available resources. Nut cracking behaviour in chimpanzees is transmitted socially, and the new discoveries presented in this study shows that such behaviour has been transmitted over the course of many chimpanzee generations. Chimpanzee prehistory has deep roots!
The study of our living closest relative, the chimpanzee, constantly highlights new aspects of human evolution, and a better protection of this endangered species will guarantee that we can continue uncovering new facets of our past. Relevant finds come from all parts of the African continent, including the rainforest, and not just the classical east African homeland.
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Chimpanzee News and Current Chimpanzee Events RSSHuman brains pay a price for being big
Metabolic changes responsible for the evolution of our unique cognitive abilities indicate that the brain may have been pushed to the limit of its capabilities. Research published today in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology adds weight to the theory that schizophrenia is a costly by-product of human brain evolution.
Infant play drives chimpanzee respiratory disease cycles
The signature boom-bust cycling of childhood respiratory diseases was long attributed to environmental cycling.
Virginia Tech researchers find human virus in chimpanzees
After studying chimpanzees in the wilds of Tanzania's Mahale Mountains National Park for the past year as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, Virginia Tech researcher Dr. Taranjit Kaur and her team have produced powerful scientific evidence that chimpanzees are becoming sick from viral infectious diseases they have likely contracted from humans.
Did walking on 2 feet begin with a shuffle?
Somewhere in the murky past, between four and seven million years ago, a hungry common ancestor of today's primates, including humans, did something novel.
Surgeon operates to rescue chimp with rare deformity
An orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Liverpool has performed a groundbreaking operation on a chimp in Cameroon to correct a deformity more commonly seen in dogs.
Researchers find first conclusive evidence of Alzheimer's-like brain tangles in nonhuman primates
Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have discovered the first conclusive evidence of Alzheimer's-like neurofibrillary brain tangles in an aged nonhuman primate.
Rwanda conservation effort to link isolated chimps to distant forest
A group of some 15 chimpanzees isolated in a pocket of Rwandan rain forest will have a greater range - and, thus, greater chances for survival - thanks to one of Africa's most ambitious forest restoration and ecological research efforts ever.
Imitating monkey's 'jumping genes' could lead to new treatments for HIV
UCL (University College London) scientists have taken a significant step in understanding how retroviruses such as HIV can move between species and the biological mechanisms behind the 'jumping genes' which make some monkeys immune. They will now use this knowledge to develop a gene therapy treatment for HIV/AIDS in humans.
Key 'impact hunters' catalyze hunting among male chimpanzees
While hunting among chimpanzees is a group effort, key males, known as "impact hunters" are highly influential within the group. They are more likely to initiate a hunt, and hunts rarely occur in their absence, according to a new study.
Neandertals, humans share key changes to 'language gene'
A new study published online on October 18th in Current Biology reveals that adaptive changes in a human gene involved in speech and language were shared by our closest extinct relatives, the Neandertals.
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