Lincoln Park Zoo Researchers Find Chimps Modify Sticks To Collect Food
(CBS) -- Researchers at Lincoln Park Zoo say chimpanzees are quick-learners that they find out fast how to modify sticks to get food more efficiently.
The study focused on a termite mound at Lincoln Park Zoo and how chimps get food out of it.
First, they use plain sticks, then they learn rather quickly to feather, or fray, the end of the stick to pick up the most food from the mound.
Zoo researcher Lydia Hopper says previous research has suggested that the sticks get frayed only because chimps chew on them when they've collected the food.
"But the exciting thing we've found was that the chimpanzees frayed the ends of the tools, modified the tools stripped off those high branches before they even started dipping them into the holes to get the food."
Hopper says it suggests a very intentional process: get the stick, make it a better tool - and then use it.
In other words, she says the chimps at Lincoln Park Zoo, as they are in the wild, are into building the better mousetrap.