Dawn of Nim
From the National Geographic …
No fewer than 22 times, researchers documented wild chimpanzees on an African savanna fashioning sticks into “spears” to hunt small primates called lesser bush babies.
In each case a chimpanzee modified a branch by breaking off one or two ends and, frequently, using its teeth to sharpen the stick. The ape then jabbed the spear into hollows in tree trunks where bush babies sleep.
Chimpanzees are well-known toolmakers. In the 1960s primatologist Jane Goodall famously observed chimps using sticks to fish termites out of mounds.
“But we’ve never discovered chimp populations that made the cognitive leap to put those two [skills] together and use weapons to assist in their hunting,” Stanford said.
“And clearly this is what these guys are doing.”
What makes the discovery all the more remarkable, project leader Pruetz said, is who the hunters are: predominantly mature females and immatures—youngsters between about two and ten years old.
“We don’t think of chimpanzee hunting in terms of the females and immatures,” she said.
The new finding shows that females and immatures do hunt. It also suggests that females played a role in the evolution of tool use and hunting among early human ancestral species, she added.
Chimpanzees are modern humans’ closest living relatives.
The researchers refer to the tools as spears. Pruetz said they differ from throwing spears, in the sense that they are jabbed into tree trunks and branches, not tossed.
USC’s Stanford said the word “spear” is an overstatement that makes the chimpanzees sound too much like early humans.
He prefers “bludgeon.”
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UPDATE : from the BBC …
Scientists in Scotland have discovered that female chimpanzees can be just as violent as their male counterparts.
The St Andrews University psychologists found examples of female chimps killing the offspring of incoming mothers, previously regarded as a male trait.
The belief was that male and females differed greatly in nature but the psychologists found that if the chimps’ resources come under threat, the females could become just as aggressive as males.
While observing chimps in the Sonso community, the researchers came across three examples of female apes killing the offspring of incoming mothers.
One attack was so violent that a baby chimp’s head was bitten off.
Simon Townsend, who led the study, said: “It’s true that males are much more often seen to engage in extreme physical violence than females, and this has led to the notion of violent and demonic males in contrast to quite peaceful females.
“However, our research shows that, under the right socio-ecological circumstances, these chimp gender stereotypes collapse completely.
“If their resources are under threat, females can become just as violently aggressive as males.”
an increase of immigrant females entering the Sonso community had put pressure on food and mate resources, which had caused the violence.
“It is impossible to predict when another instance may occur,”