Elsevier

Journal of Human Evolution

Volume 2, Issue 5, September 1973, Pages 357-364, IN1-IN8, 365-370
Journal of Human Evolution

The ant-gathering behaviour by the use of tools among wild chimpanzees of the Mahali Mountains

https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2484(73)90016-XGet rights and content

Abstract

Chimpanzees of Kasoge use tools in the trees for collecting arboreal ants (Camponotus spp.) mostly in woodland vegetation. Ant-gathering by the use of tools is routine behaviour, at least during the first half of the rainy season. Three kinds of tools were recognized: wiping handkerchief, expelling stick and poking rod. Although the first two types were observed only once, this is the first time that these methods of using plants to obtain insects have been recorded. The poking rods can be divided into five categories which differentiate between the materials used and the way and the degree to which these materials are modified. The use of a mid-rib of the leaf as a rod is a modification peculiar to a chimpanzee of Kasoge. The apparent selectivity of the plant species as the material for a tool was made clear, with special reference to the ethnobotany of the sympatric Batongwe tribe. The tool-using activity of “chimpanzee level” does not require the exclusive specialization of one hand. Ant-gathering was seen during the time when chimpanzees usually take a rest between the two intensive feeding periods of a day. This implies that ant-gathering by use of tools is a kind of luxury.

References (16)

  • J. Goodall

    The feeding behavior of wild chimpanzees. A preliminary report

  • J. Goodall

    Chimpanzees of the Gombe Stream Reserve

  • G.W. Hewes

    Food transport and the origin of hominid bipedalism

    American Anthropologist

    (1961)
  • C. Jones et al.

    Sticks used by chimpanzees in Rio Muni, West Africa

    Nature

    (1969)
  • A. Kortlandt

    On the essential morphological basis for human culture

    Current Anthropology

    (1965)
  • J.B. Lancaster

    On the evolution of tool-using behavior

    American Anthropologist

    (1968)
  • F.G. Merfield

    Gorillas were my Neighbours

    (1956)
  • J.R. Napier

    Studies of the hands of living primates

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (110)

  • Zoon politikon: The evolutionary origins of human socio-political systems

    2019, Behavioural Processes
    Citation Excerpt :

    Chimpanzees use sticks fashioned from tree branches to impale bushbabies in their tree hollow hiding places (Pruetz and Bertolani, 2007; Gibbons, 2007), so the use of sharpened sticks was thus likely within the cognitive capacity of H. habilis. However, there is a considerable distance between using sharp sticks as impaling devices and as well-aimed projectiles (Nishida, 1973). The first dedicated and unambiguously lethal weapons to appear with excellent preservation in the archeological record are the multiple all-wooden spears documented by Thieme (1997) at Schöningen, with over a dozen butchered wild horses and some bison located nearby.

  • The energetic and nutritional yields from insectivory for Kasekela chimpanzees

    2014, Journal of Human Evolution
    Citation Excerpt :

    Using insect remains identified from feces as an indirect measure of consumption (which they acknowledge was likely an underestimate), they concluded that only the intake of manganese (Mn) from insects reached the estimated recommended intake (ERI) for chimpanzees, while only iron (Fe) from insects reached the ERI for gorillas. Nishida and colleagues (Nishida, 1973; Nishida and Hiraiwa, 1982) dismissed the estimated protein yields from ant-fishing by Mahale chimpanzees as negligible, though did not rule out that consumption might yield important micronutrients. Using Deblauwe and Janssens' (2008) nutritional data, Nishie (2011) confirmed that the average macro- and micro-nutritional yields from ant-fishing for Camponotus by M-group Mahale chimpanzees were negligible, and concurred with Nishida and Hiraiwa that this behavior may be a leisure rather than subsistence activity for this community.

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text