#biology #orangutans #stonetoolmaking #tooluse
Scientists Investigate Stone Tool Making and Using Abilities in Orangutans
Early stone tools represent one of the most important technological milestones in human evolution. The production and use of sharp stone tools significantly widened the ecological niche of our ancestors, allowing them to exploit new food resources. However, despite their importance, it is still unclear how these early stone technologies emerged and which behaviors served as stepping-stones for the development of systematic stone tool production in our lineage. One approach to answer this question is to collect comparative data on the stone tool making and using abilities of our closest living relatives, the great apes, to reconstruct the potential stone-related behaviors of early hominins. To this end, a team of researchers from the University of Tübingen, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the University of Barcelona and the University of Oslo tested both the individual and the social learning abilities of orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) to make and use stone tools...
http://www.sci-news.com/biology/stone-tool-making-orangutans-10562.html

#biology #birds #parrots #keas #tooluse

Kea Parrots are Capable of Innovating Self-Care Tooling, New Study Shows

A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports provides empirical evidence for deliberate self-care tooling in a species of bird.

http://www.sci-news.com/biology/kea-parrots-self-care-tooling-10061.html

#biology #birds #parrots #kea #tooluse #disabledKea

A Disabled Parrot in New Zealand Has Taught Himself to Use Tools For Self-Care

There's nothing better than a nice exfoliation to clean your parrot self after a long day.
Apparently, that holds true even if you're a parrot with only half a beak. Biologists have discovered that Bruce – a disabled New Zealand kea (Nestor notabilis) at the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch – has been using tiny little pebbles to preen himself.

https://www.sciencealert.com/this-kea-with-only-half-a-beak-called-bruce-uses-tools-for-self-care

#greatapes #orangutans #tooluse
Orangutans Observed Using Hammer Tools to Crack Nuts
New research from the University of Tübingen demonstrates that nut-cracking can emerge in Sumatran (Pongo abelii) and Bornean (Pongo pygmaeus) orangutans through individual learning and certain types of non-copying social learning.
Padana, a female orangutan at Leipzig Zoo, continued to use wooden hammers to crack nuts for some time after the end of the study. Image credit: Claudio Tennie.
http://www.sci-news.com/biology/nut-cracking-orangutans-10022.html