Re: [xmca] questions about animals' tool use

Yes, the peaceful chimp myth seems pretty far gone.
But look at how much more efficient the symbolic intelligence of humans
allows
human beings to kill each other while eating themselves out of house and
home!! If it weren't so dangerous to use irony in this medium, I might be
tempted to say it makes me proud of my fellow humans.
:-(
mike

On 4/22/07, Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu> wrote:
>
>
> American researchers in West Africa believe they've found the first
> instance
> of an animal (other than humans) building a multi- step weapon, after
> observing wild chimpanzees grab sticks from one to four feet long, sharpen
> the ends with their teeth, and murderously jab them into deep tree hollows
> where delicious bush babies may be nesting. Writing in the journal Current
> Biology, the team even reported observing the chimps tasting the tips
> after
> the stabs, to ascertain whether they had actually located a prey. (One of
> the researchers said the ferocity of the jabbing reminded her of the
> shower
> scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.) [Tampa Tribune- Washington Post,
> 2-23-07]
>
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Received on Sun Apr 22 14:15 PDT 2007