Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are the most proficient and versatile users of tools in the wild. How such skills become integrated into the behavioural repertoire of wild chimpanzee communities is investigated here by drawing together evidence from three complementary approaches in a group of oil-palm nut- ( Elaeis guineensis) cracking chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea. First, extensive surveys of communities adjacent to Bossou have shown that population-specific details of tool use, such as the selection of species of nuts as targets for cracking, cannot be explained purely on the basis of ecological differences. Second, a 16-year longitudinal record tracing the development of nut-cracking in individual chimpanzees has highlighted the importance of a critical period for learning (3-5 years of age), while the similar learning contexts experienced by siblings have been found to result in near-perfect (13 out of 14 dyads) inter-sibling correspondence in laterality. Third, novel data from field experiments involving the introduction of unfamiliar species of nuts to the Bossou group illuminates key aspects of both cultural innovation and transmission. We show that responses of individuals toward the novel items differ markedly with age, with juveniles being the most likely to explore. Furthermore, subjects are highly specific in their selection of conspecifics as models for observation, attending to the nut-cracking activities of individuals in the same age group or older, but not younger than themselves. Together with the phenomenon of inter-community migration, these results demonstrate a mechanism for the emergence of culture in wild chimpanzees.

At the age of 3.5 years, wild chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea, begin to use hammer and anvil stones to crack oil-palm nuts to get the kernels. To clarify the developmental processes, the authors did a field experiment in which stones and oil-palm nuts were provided. Infant chimpanzees' stone-nut manipulation was observed and video recorded. Data were collected from 3 infants younger than 4 years old from 1992 to 1995. The authors analyzed 692 episodes of infants' stone-nut manipulation and 150 episodes of infants' observation of nut cracking performed by adults. Infants observed other chimpanzees' nut cracking and got the kernels from them. The stone-nut manipulation developed from a single action on a single object to multiple actions on multiple objects. Although infant chimpanzees at the age of 2.5 years already acquired basic actions necessary for nut cracking, they did not combine the actions in an appropriate sequence to perform actual nut cracking.

No abstract

To explore the phylogenetic origin of mirror self‐recognition, the present study examined behaviors toward a mirror during a 30‐min session in 12 species of nonhuman primates: prosimians (ring‐tailed lemur), New World monkeys (cottontop tamarin, squirrel monkey, and capuchin), Old World monkeys (bonnet macaque, rhesus macaque, and Japanese macaque), gibbons (white‐handed gibbon), and great apes (orang‐utan, gorilla, bonobo, and chimpanzee). Only the great apes exhibited self‐directed behaviors that were thought to be the critical evidence of mirror self‐recognition. These results suggest that there is a large difference between great apes and the nonhuman primates in terms of the capacity for mirror self‐recognition.

No abstract