Wild chimps fashion cutlery, chop food into bite-sized portions

[n2doc]

It's the first time such culinary behavior has ever been witnessed in a nonhuman species.
By Bryan Nelson
Fri, Dec 25 2009 at 5:39 AM EST

If proper table etiquette is what separates civilized society from the savages, then the boundaries of civilization just got a whole lot wider. For the first time, chimpanzees in Africa's Nimba Mountains have been observed using tools to chop up their food into bite-sized, more manageable portions. Even more interesting: these table manners appear to have been passed from generation to generation.

The chimps use stone and wooden cleavers, as well as stone anvils to process Treculia fruits — hard, fibrous volleyball-sized fruits which can weigh up to 8.5 kilograms.

But the apes are not simply cracking into the Treculia to get to otherwise unobtainable food, say researchers. Neighboring chimpanzee populations also eat the fruits but don't process their food this way. Rather, these chimps are actively chopping up the food into more manageable portions simply to make the experience of eating it more pleasant and convenient.

The discovery was made by primate reserachers Kathelijne Koops, William McGrew and Tetsuro Matsuzawa during a monthly survey of chimps (Pan troglodytes) living in the mountain forests of Guinea. It began when Koops found the cleavers and anvils, left behind by a troop of chimps that had been eating the large fruits.

more:

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/pets-animals/stories/wild-chimps-fashion-cutlery-chop-food-into-bite-sized-portions

[jpak]

1. but they still choke on pretzels

:evilgrin:

[MineralMan]

2. +1

[valerief]

4. +2

[madrchsod]

10. +3......

[Don Caballero]

3. More ammo against the dummy Evolutionist Reich Wing

[jgraz]

5. Sigh... they aren't *fashioning* anything.

The report is interesting enough without this article's stretching of the truth. The chimps use *found* stones to open the fruit and make it easier to eat. Still cool, but not exactly Top Chef.

[Warpy]

7. The point is that they're using specific items together

to do things they don't have to do simply to improve the aesthetics.

I find it impressive.

[jgraz]

9. I think it's cool, too, but they're not doing it to "improve the aesthetics".

The uncut fruit is very difficult for a chimp to bite into. They're cutting it down to bite size so they can fit it in their mouths. No less interesting than the "table manners" yarn, and it has the benefit of being true.

[Cleita]

6. How soon before they start using fire to cook their food?n/t

[qazplm]

8. I guess the real question is

can you have a second evolution of something approaching humans given another few million years?

Obviously not with Humans v1.0 still dominating the planet, but perhaps in a few million years from now, after we've, hopefully, branched off into space, there might be less competition and a more natural evolutionary process might unfold and boom, some sort of Humans v2.0 might come into being.