EVOLUTION OF USE OF TOOLS BY FEEDING ANIMALS
EVOLUTION OF USE OF TOOLS BY FEEDING ANIMALS
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1558-5646.1972.tb01950.x
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发表时间：
1972-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
ALCOCK, J
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
ALCOCK, J
本文回顾了动物在自然条件下进食时使用工具的已知案例，并讨论了这种行为的可能起源、传播和随后的演变。不同物种的先驱工具使用者很可能只是在使用预先存在的行为模式，而这种行为模式无意中涉及到将物体用作工具。如果没有经验的动物可以从使用工具的父母或同伴的观察中受益，那么这种特征在某些鸟类和哺乳动物种群中的传播可能会相当迅速。在相对较少的情况下，工具的使用对一个物种的粮食经济做出了重大贡献，对工具使用便利的选择可能是明显的。这可能采取了昆虫和鱼类工具使用者中选定行为模式的阈值变化的形式，或者可能导致鸟类和哺乳动物工具使用者的特殊学习能力。对这种行为特征的比较研究可能有助于理解人类的进化。海獭、啄木鸟和人类可能特别擅长使用进食工具，因为它们都侵入了其系统发育群的不寻常的生态位，并面临着来自在其环境中建立良好的物种的潜在激烈竞争。在这种情况下，选择可以在不同的水平上运作，以提高动物群体使用工具的能力。
This paper reviews the known cases of the use of tools by animals feeding under natural conditions and discusses the possible origins, transmission, and subsequent evolution of this behavior. It seems probable that the pioneer tool-users of various species were simply using pre-existing behavior patterns in a way which accidentally involved the use of an object as a tool. The transmission of the trait in some populations of birds and mammals may have taken place fairly rapidly if inexperienced animals could benefit from observation of tool-using parents or companions. In the relatively few cases where the use of tools makes a substantial contribution to the food economy of a species selection for facility in tool-using may be evident. This may have taken the form of shifts in thresholds for selected behavior patterns in the insect and fish tool-users or it may have led to special learning abilities in the bird and mammal tool-users. Comparative studies of this behavioral trait may contribute to an understanding of human evolution. Sea otters, woodpecker finches, and humans may be especially proficient in the use of feeding tools because all have invaded unusual niches for their phylogenetic groups and have faced potentially severe competition from species well established in their environments. Under these circumstances selection may operate at a variety of levels to improve the tool-using abilities of populations of animals.