Last Example Of Tool Use In Chimpanzees example essay topic

Tool Use 2 Chimpanzees exhibit features that at times seem more like humans than wild animals. One of these features is the chimpanzee's ability to use tools to carry out tasks. Along with the ability to use tools they are also intelligent enough to be selective about the tool used and they also acquire these tools in advance for some action they will perform later. They use different natural tools for many different tasks both in the wild and in captivity. They show both many differences and similarities in their tool use compared with human beings. Humans take tool usage in animals to another level compared to any other living thing, but the chimpanzees and other apes are the some of the only animals to exhibit tool usage that resembles that of humans.

Chimpanzee's are able to problem solve through the use of tools. They show problem solving skills that are comparable to a very young child. They also treat tool finding as a task in itself by taking care in choosing a suitable tool for the job and then also adjusting the tool if necessary. In nature the chimpanzees are able to find their natural tool, remove parts of it, shape it or adjust it so it is suitably ready to be used in the following task.

Their ability to utilize tools to solve problems is an event that takes place constantly for whatever task they feel needs to be accomplished. One well-known example is the chimpanzee's use of twigs and sticks to retrieve termites or ants out of mounds or logs. They must find a suitable twig, not too wide or too curved, then remove the leaves and modify it in anyway need be so it can fit in the hole. Another example took place with a group of chimps in captivity.

One of the chimps used a long pole as a tool to get something from a high shelf. From this example, the other chimps learned to use the poles as climbing tools to escape from their walled habitat. The Tool Use 3 researchers of this particular group of chimps noticed that the chimps were very selective of which poles to use, being careful not to choose an old one that might break or one that's too long and cumbersome or one that's too short. One last example of tool use in chimpanzees is their ability to make use of natural objects as hammers and anvils. They will use a stone as a hammer and a larger stone or hard surface as an anvil to break through the shells of nuts. This tool use in particular is especially tricky because if the shell is not hit at the perfect angle with the right amount of force then the shell will crack and the nut inside will be pulverized.

These are just some of the examples of chimpanzee tool use to solve problems. Many of the activities that require tool use are passed on and learned by the young from the old. The younger chimpanzees are much like very young children in that they do not know how to do things until they have observed the adults doing them and have been taught the correct way to do them. Jane Goodall's research helps explain the role of observation and imitation in chimpanzee tool use. In her research she found that young chimps learn how to "termite fish" from observing adults. They learn how to break twigs from trees, strip away the leaves, and insert the tool into a termite hole from their observation of the adults.

The young chimpanzees do not learn tool use from the adults by exactly copying every movement of the adult, but rather by fiddling with the tool and trying it out in various ways itself. Basically, it learns the basic techniques by the older chimpanzees and then uses its own mind to adapt and build onto these skills to become better at the use of the tool. As with both humans and chimpanzees, learning by doing is a much more effective way to learn than by rote. An interesting look into chimpanzee Tool Use 4 tool use shows that different chimpanzees exhibit different mental capacities and learning abilities.

Some chimps lack the ability to use probes and are no better at catching termites than their less intelligent relatives. Other chimps have developed their rudimentary technology so well that their methods work to catch termites as well as some less developed human cultures. There are no sharp boundaries in termite catching between human cultures, the chimps, and lesser apes. Instead, there is an overlap between the three depending on how developed or underdeveloped the things compared are to each other. Although, the chimpanzees show many distinct similarities to humans in their use of tools, there are definitely obvious differences between the way humans use tools and the way they do. There is the obvious difference in brain size between humans and chimpanzees, which very much affects the extent and complexity of the usage of tools.

In industrialized societies human tool use has become more advanced than any other species on the planet could comprehend. One very large difference between the tool use of humans compared with chimpanzees is the human ability to manufacture tools. Even though chimps have been known to manufacture tools they are still very primitive. Humans can manufacture tools so complicated that some of its users don't have any idea how it works. Human use and understand the laws of nature, mechanics, and electricity have led to tools and machinery that makes a chimpanzee's tools look ridiculously primitive. Humans mental capacity and problem solving skills are so advanced that we are able to make tools to use for whatever task we can't accomplish with our own two hands.

Unlike humans, chimpanzee tool use tends to almost always stem from a need Tool Use 5 like food or water. Although humans do use tools for food and drink purposes there extent of tool use reaches far beyond that. Unlike chimpanzees, humans can manipulate materials to form complex tools like machinery or cars. Humans can purify, bend, and shape metals using other man made tools or cut and shape wood with man made tools. Chimpanzees, for the most part, have to work with whatever they have in their natural habitat. Although, they have been known to put sticks together to form more complex tools it is nowhere near the complexity of ours.

Tools our so much a part of our lives, we use them and don't even think about it. Just in preparation for a coming day a human could use dozens of tool before they even leave their homes. Chimpanzee tool use is a fair part of their lives, but their tool use is limited because of their mental capacity. There are many uses chimpanzees use for tools that are very comparable to us. Although, they far from hygienic, chimps have been known to use leaves as either toilet paper or as a handkerchief and even a twig as a toothbrush to clean their teeth. Chimpanzees have also been observed using leaves to drink water.

Also as most people have observed in zoos chimps like to throw objects, usually a stick or stone in the wild, but they will throw whatever is handy in some cases feces. While this may be funny to the onlookers at the zoo, what they don't realize is that they are observing the chimps natural reaction to being threatened. Here they show tool use in both defense and offense. Chimps have been known to stun or kill with their stone throwing. In this case their tool, the stone, is used as a weapon.

In conclusion, chimpanzees are amazing creatures in that they are one of the only animals to show such developed tool use that it could be compared to human tool use. Tool Use 6 The similarities in their problem solving skills and their ability to teach and learn tool use at times seems so human like it's amazing. Looking at the differences puts their tool use back into perspective and shows how complex and amazing the human mind is and how primitive their mind works. Still, they are tremendously intelligent creatures and they show it through their tool technology.