The human race stands by today as tensions mount between the two species after the Chimpanzee Coalition was observed by human intelligence completing it's first Sharp Stick Tests on Thursday. An announcement on Friday from the Chimpanzee Defense Minister formally revealed to the world that the Chimpanzees had in fact "Gone Sharp Object." Two key representatives from both parties are scheduled to meet later this week and discuss the possibility preventing sharp object proliferation. "We're going into this with our eyes open..." A spokesperson for the Human Coalition said in an interview. "The consequences of a fully operational sharp stick program on the side of the Chimpanzees would be disastrous. If we feel there is there's a threat to our welfare the possibility of a preemptive strike is not out of the question."
"The new weapons program is a step toward a greater evolution for our species." A highly ranked Chimpanzee official said in a later interview. However he also said that his peers would be willing to consider halting the development of it's sharp stick program in exchange for foreign aide. Specifically in the form of banana and termite shipments in order to provide relief from the famine currently devastating the chimpanzee population.
An Orangian head of state says that he hopes things can be resolved peacefully between the two sides as an all out conflict between humans and chimpanzees could interfere with the Orangutan policy of neutrality. We'll be keeping you up to date on this story and more as it develops.
Chimpanzees in Senegal have been observed making and using wooden spears to hunt other primates, according to a study in the journal Current Biology.
Researchers documented 22 cases of chimps fashioning tools to jab at smaller primates sheltering in cavities of hollow branches or tree trunks.
The report's authors, Jill Pruetz and Paco Bertolani, said the finding could have implications for human evolution.
Chimps had not been previously observed hunting other animals with tools.
Pruetz and Bertolani made the discovery at their research site in Fongoli, Senegal, between March 2005 and July 2006.
"There were hints that this behavior might occur, but it was one time at a different site," said Jill Pruetz, assistant professor of anthropology at Iowa State University, US.
"While in Senegal for the spring semester, I saw about 13 different hunting bouts. So it really is habitual."
Jabbing weapon
Chimpanzees were observed jabbing the spears into hollow trunks or branches, over and over again. After the chimp removed the tool, it would frequently smell or lick it.
In the vast majority of cases, the chimps used the tools in the manner of a spear, not as probes. The researchers say they were using enough force to injure an animal that may have been hiding inside.
However, they did not photograph the behaviour, or capture it on film.
Senegal chimp Image: Iowa State University
Adolescent females exhibited the behaviour most frequently (Image: M Gaspersic)
In one case, Pruetz and Bertolani, from the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies in Cambridge, UK, witnessed a chimpanzee extract a bushbaby with a spear.
In most cases, the Fongoli chimpanzees carried out four or more steps to manufacture spears for hunting.
In all but one of the cases, chimps broke off a living branch to make their tool. They would then trim the side branches and leaves.
In a number of cases, chimps also trimmed the ends of the branch and stripped it of bark. Some chimps also sharpened the tip of the tool with their teeth.
Female lead
Adult males have long been regarded as the hunters in chimp groups.
But the authors of the paper in Current Biology said females, particularly adolescent females, and young chimps in general were seen exhibiting this behaviour more frequently than adult males.
"It's classic in primates that when there is a new innovation, particularly in terms of tool use, the younger generations pick it up very quickly. The last ones to pick up are adults, mainly the males," said Dr Pruetz, who led the National Geographic Society-funded project.
This is because young chimps pick the skill up from their mothers, with whom they spend a lot of their time.
"It's a niche that males seem to ignore," Dr Pruetz told BBC News.
Many areas where chimpanzees live are also home to the red colobus monkey, which the chimps hunt. However, the Senegal site is lacking in this species, so chimps may have needed to adopt a new hunting strategy to catch a different prey - bushbaby.
The authors conclude that their findings support a theory that females may have played a similarly important role in the evolution of tool technology among early humans.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6387611.stm
