Chimpanzee extractive foraging with excavating tools: Experimental modeling of the origins of human technology.

Autor: Motes-Rodrigo A; Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany., Majlesi P; Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway., Pickering TR; Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America.; Plio-Pleistocene Palaeontology Section, Department of Vertebrates, Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (Transvaal Museum), Pretoria, South Africa., Laska M; Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden., Axelsen H; Kristiansand Zoo, Kristiansand, Norway., Minchin TC; Kristiansand Zoo, Kristiansand, Norway., Tennie C; Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany., Hernandez-Aguilar RA; Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2019 May 15; Vol. 14 (5), pp. e0215644. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 May 15 (Print Publication: 2019).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215644
Abstrakt: It is hypothesized that tool-assisted excavation of plant underground storage organs (USOs) played an adaptive role in hominin evolution and was also once considered a uniquely human behavior. Recent data indicate that savanna chimpanzees also use tools to excavate edible USOs. However, those chimpanzees remain largely unhabituated and we lack direct observations of this behavior in the wild. To fill this gap in our knowledge of hominoid USO extractive foraging, we conducted tool-mediated excavation experiments with captive chimpanzees naïve to this behavior. We presented the chimpanzees with the opportunity to use tools in order to excavate artificially-placed underground foods in their naturally forested outdoor enclosure. No guidance or demonstration was given to the chimpanzees at any time. The chimpanzees used tools spontaneously in order to excavate the underground foods. They exhibited six different tool use behaviors in the context of excavation: probe, perforate, dig, pound, enlarge and shovel. However, they still excavated manually more often than they did with tools. Chimpanzees were selective in their choice of tools that we provided, preferring longer tools for excavation. They also obtained their own tools mainly from naturally occurring vegetation and transported them to the excavation site. They reused some tools throughout the study. Our new data provide a direction for the study of variables relevant to modeling USO extractive foraging by early hominins.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exist.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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