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Saturday, October 6, 2007

first nutcracking bonobo ever! We think... -- video



The bonobos at Lola use tools. It’s really amazing because no one’s seen tool use in bonobos in the wild before (I don’t think).And everyone’s always going on about chimps using tools and how it’s so amazing because everyone used to think that’s what makes us human, and now bonobos use tools too.

Tool using is important because we think that’s how early humans got their start. We couldn’t run fast like a cheetah, and we weren’t strong like mammoths, so we started using tools like spears to hunt meat and rocks to open nuts. These days we use tools like crazy. In fact, we can’t do anything without tools. But looking at chimps, and now the Lola bonobos, we can catch a glimpse of how it all started.

Jean Claude says the Lola bonobos have never been shown how to use tools.