Chimps now hunting with spears

0TheSwerve0

Story on yahoo http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070222/...mps_hunting_dc

Note: it's only the females doing this. Any implications for our human hunter-gatherer model?

Simfish

Holy Crap

This Is Awesome

Now - could humans teach chimps to use their weapons? Think of it - chimpanzee or dolphin guerilla fighters. ;-)

Schrodinger's Dog

If you think about it's not that much different from using twigs to dislodge grubs, it's a bigger stick and a bigger animal.

When they start using bows and arrows give me a shout

None the less a testament to primate ingenuity.

ray b

uplift wars by brin comming true

moe darklight

I don't know... I wouldn't be surprised if it was true, the more we study chimps, the more we seem to find surprising intelligence in them.

But I wouldn't take it from Yahoo news (or any news paper for that matter) until i read some official research... the media tends to, not lie... exaggerate science stories.


EDIT: p.s: this is unrelated, but there was an article in a recent Discover mag. that talked a little about how the media exaggerates science stories. it was the case of scientists who found some way to bend light around an object (I don't remember very well the details).
the media jumped on it right away, labeling it an "invisibility cloak," speculating armies being able to make entire buildings invisible using this technology... the actual device is huge, and is able to bend light only around a tiny piece of matter, making it "invisible." (I'm sure someone on this forum knows what I'm talking about better than I do :) ) ... it was a pretty funny article. in the interview they talked about how TV stations made them wear white cloaks and protective glasses to make them look more sciencey.

DaveC426913

Yeah, they weren't throwing them, they were stabbing with them, not quite a spear - more like a pointed stick.

As 'Ding's Dog points out, chimps use sticks to dislodge grubs and poke in termite hills.

baywax

Its not a far step from coaxing grubs and ants onto a piece of straw and then eating them (which has been documented from observations of chimp behavior). Straw/spear/eat. Pretty obvious progression.

mosassam

By the same token, it's hardly a vast leap from big pokey stick, to throwing big pokey stick. (The space shuttle follows shortly after this! )

baywax

So that's how they do it! They tie the space shuttle to a stick and throw it out of the atmosphere! Cool

mosassam

As OThe SwerveO points out, it's interesting that only female chimpanzees use the big pokey stick for practical purposes. I believe this situation will truly reflect early human societies when the males use the big pokey stick on each other.

tehno

Are you sure Britney is with them?

J77

The OP link didn't work for me... youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt5cx_nc3Jw

whatta

yep yahoo link is dead. in my locked thread there's another link with full video.

raolduke

What does this mean then? This means nothing. We have evovled from this exact same place as they are doing now and we would never let them have a chance to send us back there.

whatta

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