CNN/AP: Nut-cracking gorilla surprises scientists (re. evolution)

[DeepModem Mom]

Nut-cracking gorilla surprises scientists
Tuesday, October 18, 2005


GOMA, Congo (AP) -- An infant gorilla in a Congo sanctuary is smashing palm nuts between two rocks to extract oil, surprising and intriguing scientists who say they have much to learn about what gorillas can do -- and about what that says about evolution.

It had been thought that the premeditated use of stones and sticks to accomplish a task like cracking nuts was restricted to humans and the smaller, more agile chimpanzees.

Then, in late September, keepers at a Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International sanctuary in this eastern Congo city saw 2 1/2-year-old female gorilla Itebero smashing palm nuts between rocks in the "hammer and anvil" technique, considered among the most complex tool use behaviors.

'Surprising finding'

"This is a surprising finding, given what we know about tool use in gorillas," Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund primatologist Patrick Mehlman said earlier this month at his Goma office.

Mehlman said that the finding indicates that complex tool use may not be a trait developed only by humans and chimpanzees, and could have its origins earlier in the evolutionary chain, among ancestors common to both humans and our closest relatives the great apes....


http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/10/18/nutcracking.gorillas.ap/index.html

[joemurphy]

1. Aha! Now that they're nearly extinct, we find out that they're

smarter than many Republicans.

[sallyseven]

17. Isn';t everyone???

[WindRavenX]

2. b-b-b-ut I thought ID was behind this!!!

Good find.

[FVZA_Colonel]

3. I've heard some scientists predict that with another million years or so

of evolution, tool useage won't be restricted to mammals, as it is predicted that the cephalopod brain will have developed to the point that these creatures could handle this. A very interesting story, and I hope more is reported about it.

[havocmom]

4. Sea otters use rocks. We have known for decades

[Gronk Groks]

5. Having opposable thumbs, tool use is next...

...it is only a matter of time. This same technique has probably been "discovered" thousands of times and has disappeared as many.

But eventually it sticks. The culture that manages to keep it alive prospers and gains an advantage. Humans simply got there first.

Remember, the archeology has shown that there was several Hominid species alive at the same time during most of our evolution. We simply outlasted/killed off the competition.

[Boo Boo]

6. "Nut cracking Gorilla surprises scientist...

with swift kick to the groin."

[Moloch]

7. LOL

[sofa king]

8. Now that's a "Photoshop This" headline if I ever saw one.

[PittPoliSci]

27. hahaha

i'd love to see that. a scientist, marveled that he'd just be cock-knocked.

[Peachhead22]

9. A 2.5 year old gorilla is an "infant"?

And putting a nut on a rock and smashing it with another rock is "one of the most complex" tool use behaviors? I've seen birds do that for cripes sake!

[0007]

10. I read that article and the first thing that came to mind was

the Blackwater Mercenaries.

[daleo]

11. I saw a chimp extracting oil by pounding Iraqs

He seemed nuts to me.

[Dem2theMax]

12. And I was going to make a comment about chimps eating pretzels.

I like yours better. LOL. :)

[NCPatriot]

13. ...In Other News....

"Curious" George Bush, won a spelling bee in his home state of Texas, outsmarting several pre-school aged children by spelling the word "bush"...

[Carni]

14. Obviously these scientists have never seen the squirrels in my garbage

The little SOBs can get ANY package or can open and they are very adept at unwrapping things--opening jars etc.

I don't see why this is such astounding news.

[MisterP]

15. probably due to an "assume all animals are ambulatory squash"

theory that's popular--no brains, just vegetable fiber

[Carni]

16. Yep! And let me tell you...

The wildlife in my yard didn't get the memo...it's a whole climate of corruption and devious systematic garbage can raids here.

I think my fauna are republicans lol

[kineneb]

21. also failed to observe raccoons getting into everything

garbage cans, houses, attics, helping themselves to food in kitchens

all they need are voice boxes and opposable thumbs, and the humans are in deep trouble...

go raccoons!

[Carni]

23. They are another rogue group lol

I am going to sound like a liar but when my kid was little the local racoons were using my kids cozy cart on my deck... as an item of amusement.

The sos and sos would push the thing around the deck and wake me up at night!

[alcibiades_mystery]

18. Nut-cracking gorillas? They should get a load of my ball-busting wife!

:evilgrin:

[Demonaut]

19. looks like we're going extinct, the chimps are gonna be the next evolution

nary leap:scared:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

20. birds have been doing it for years...

http://www.pbs.org/lifeofbirds/brain/






The scene: a traffic light crossing






on a university campus in Japan. Carrion crows and humans line up patiently, waiting for the traffic to halt.
When the lights change, the birds hop in front of the cars and place walnuts, which they picked from the adjoining trees, on the road. After the lights turn green again, the birds fly away and vehicles drive over the nuts, cracking them open. Finally, when it’s time to cross again, the crows join the pedestrians and pick up their meal.

If the cars miss the nuts, the birds sometimes hop back and put them somewhere else on the road. Or they sit on electricity wires and drop them in front of vehicles.

Biologists already knew the corvid family–it includes crows, ravens, rooks, magpies and jackdaws–to be among the smartest of all birds. But this remarkable piece of behavior–it features in the final program of “Life of Birds”–would seem to be a particularly acute demonstration of bird intelligence.

The crows in Japan have only been cracking nuts this way since about 1990. They have since been seen doing it in California. Researchers believe they probably noticed cars driving over nuts fallen from a walnut tree overhanging a road. The crows already knew about dropping clams from a height on the seashore to break them open, but found this did not work for walnuts because of their soft green outer shell.

Other birds do this, although not with quite the same precision. In the Dardia Mountains of Greece, eagles can be seen carrying tortoises up to a great height and dropping them on to rocks below. The hapless Aeschylus (525-456 BC), a father of Greek tragic drama, is said to have met his end by this means.

A seer predicted he would die when a house fell on him, so the wary scribe departed for the hillsides, well away from any dwellings, where he believed he was safe. He wasn’t. An eagle is said to have mistaken Aeschylus’ bald pate for a stone, and dropped the creature in its “house” onto it.

Scientists have argued for decades over whether wild creatures, including birds, show genuine intelligence.

Some still consider the human mind to be unique, with animals capable of only the simplest mental processes. But a new generation of scientists believe that creatures, including birds, can solve problems by insight and even learn by example, as human children do. Birds can even talk in a meaningful way.

Some birds show quite astonishing powers of recall. The Clarke’s nutcracker, a type of North American crow, may have the animal world's keenest memory. It collects up to 30,000 pine seeds over three weeks in November, then carefully buries them for safe keeping across over an area of 200 square miles. Over the next eight months, it succeeds in retrieving over 90 percent of them, even when they are covered in feet of snow.


more....

[kineneb]

22. have black walnut tree with crows just waiting...

that is normal behavior for crows, jays, etc. They are really bright birds. I think they are fun to watch.

[TrueAmerican]

24. My dog can open the sliding glass window

by getting up on her hind legs and pushing it open with her front paws.

[tabasco]

25. Nature continues to amaze.

I cannot say that we are a superior species to these magnificent beings.

If they had developed our intelligence, it might be a more peaceful world.

Such a powerful creature but they live in peace and only wish to be left alone.

[PittPoliSci]

26. why can't you say we are a superior species?

[tabasco]

28. I really don't consider us superior to any species.

We have developed technology. Does that make us superior? We have used that technology to destroy ourselves, our ecosystems, and many, many other species.

We will be very fortunate if we do not end all life on the planet with nukes. Not sounding very superior to me. Actually inferior to an animal that lives in balance with nature.

[PittPoliSci]

30. technology helped us gain a competitive edge.

by virtue of evolution alone, we are superior. we may not be in harmony, like you stressed, but we are superior by definition.

[Neil Lisst]

29. Now he's working at FEMA

you know it's true!!


speaking of the DHS, it's in today's Neil Lisst
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/neillisst