She documented chimpanzees breaking off straws to fish for termites. When straws were in short supply, they used twigs, stripping them of leaves before using them. In addition, the apes used leaves to scoop up water, to clean dirt off themselves and more.
Since then, wildlife scientists have documented tool use in dozens of species.
Our own orang utans love their comfort, so when the monsoon starts, they use wide leaves as umbrellas to shelter themselves from rain.
Orangutan also use sticks to pull fruit from tall branches, honey out of a beehive and to break open hard or spiked fruits. Not only do they strip leaves off twigs, they’ll bend and store their tools too.
Their cousins, the macaque, will pick up a stone to smash crabs. There are also plenty of stories of these clever monkeys using sticks to scratch hard-to-reach spots on their back and occasionally to hit another monkey.
But aside from the wolf, the current poster child (or should we say animal?) for cleverness is the crow. These birds use straws and twigs to fish for insects and now they’re being put to work in Europe.
Pilot projects in Sweden and France are training crows to pick up cigarette butts and to put them into a vending machine where they are given food in exchange.
These documented cases show that the differences between animals and humans are perhaps more imagined than fact. It certainly is an interesting world.
