Oct 5, 2005, 09:41
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4296606.stm
Gorillas have been seen for the first time using simple tools to perform tasks in the wild, researchers say.
Scientists observed gorillas in a remote Congolese forest using sticks to test the depth of muddy water and to cross swampy areas.
Wild chimps and orangutans also use tools, suggesting that the origins of tool use may predate the evolutionary split between apes and humans.
Gorillas are endangered, with some populations numbered in the hundreds.
'Valuable insights'
"We've been observing gorillas for 10 years here, and we have two cases of them using detached objects as tools," said Thomas Breuer, from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), who heads the study team in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo.
"In the first case, we had a male gorilla using a camera in a most intelligent looking way," he told the BBC.
Gorillas have been seen for the first time using simple tools to perform tasks in the wild, researchers say.
Scientists observed gorillas in a remote Congolese forest using sticks to test the depth of muddy water and to cross swampy areas.
Wild chimps and orangutans also use tools, suggesting that the origins of tool use may predate the evolutionary split between apes and humans.
Gorillas are endangered, with some populations numbered in the hundreds.
'Valuable insights'
"We've been observing gorillas for 10 years here, and we have two cases of them using detached objects as tools," said Thomas Breuer, from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), who heads the study team in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo.
"In the first case, we had a male gorilla using a camera in a most intelligent looking way," he told the BBC.
Cave canem