Chimpanzee extractive foraging with excavating tools: Experimental modeling of the origins of human technology

It is hypothesized that tool-assisted excavation of plant underground storage organs (USOs) played an adaptive role in hominin evolution and was also once considered a uniquely human behavior. Recent data indicate that savanna chimpanzees also use tools to excavate edible USOs. However, those chimpa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one Vol. 14; no. 5; p. e0215644
Main Authors:	Motes-Rodrigo, Alba, Majlesi, Parandis, Pickering, Travis Rayne, Laska, Matthias, Axelsen, Helene, Minchin, Tanya C, Tennie, Claudio, Hernandez-Aguilar, R Adriana
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 15-05-2019 PLOS Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Analysis Animals Behavior Biology and Life Sciences Chimpanzees Diet Earth Sciences Evolution Excavation Food Foraging (Animal feeding behavior) Foraging behavior Human behavior Humans Hunter-gatherers Modelling Models, Theoretical Museums Organs Pan troglodytes Social Sciences Soil Storage organs Technology Tool use Tool Use Behavior Underground storage Tanzania Senegal Norway Germany
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Summary:	It is hypothesized that tool-assisted excavation of plant underground storage organs (USOs) played an adaptive role in hominin evolution and was also once considered a uniquely human behavior. Recent data indicate that savanna chimpanzees also use tools to excavate edible USOs. However, those chimpanzees remain largely unhabituated and we lack direct observations of this behavior in the wild. To fill this gap in our knowledge of hominoid USO extractive foraging, we conducted tool-mediated excavation experiments with captive chimpanzees naïve to this behavior. We presented the chimpanzees with the opportunity to use tools in order to excavate artificially-placed underground foods in their naturally forested outdoor enclosure. No guidance or demonstration was given to the chimpanzees at any time. The chimpanzees used tools spontaneously in order to excavate the underground foods. They exhibited six different tool use behaviors in the context of excavation: probe, perforate, dig, pound, enlarge and shovel. However, they still excavated manually more often than they did with tools. Chimpanzees were selective in their choice of tools that we provided, preferring longer tools for excavation. They also obtained their own tools mainly from naturally occurring vegetation and transported them to the excavation site. They reused some tools throughout the study. Our new data provide a direction for the study of variables relevant to modeling USO extractive foraging by early hominins.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exist.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0215644