First observation of tool use in wild gorillas
First observation of tool use in wild gorillas
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pbio.0030380
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发表时间：
2005-11-01
期刊：
影响因子：
9.8
通讯作者：
Fishlock, V
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Breuer, T;Ndoundou-Hockemba, M;Fishlock, V
对类人猿在不同环境下使用新工具的描述有助于我们理解有利于人类工具使用进化的因素。本文记录了我们认为是前两个观察野生西部大猩猩（大猩猩）的工具使用。在刚果北方的沼泽森林中，我们首先观察到一只成年雌性大猩猩用一根分支作为手杖来测试水的深度，并帮助她试图穿过一个水池。在第二个案例中，我们看到另一只成年雌性在食品加工过程中使用从小灌木中分离出来的树干作为稳定剂。然后她用树干作为一个自制的桥梁，穿过一片深深的沼泽。与其他类人猿的信息相反，这些信息主要显示在食物提取的背景下使用工具，我们的观察表明，在大猩猩中，其他因素，如栖息地类型，可以刺激工具的使用。
Descriptions of novel tool use by great apes in response to different circumstances aids us in understanding the factors favoring the evolution of tool use in humans. This paper documents what we believe to be the first two observations of tool use in wild western gorillas ( Gorilla gorilla). We first observed an adult female gorilla using a branch as a walking stick to test water deepness and to aid in her attempt to cross a pool of water at Mbeli Bai, a swampy forest clearing in northern Congo. In the second case we saw another adult female using a detached trunk from a small shrub as a stabilizer during food processing. She then used the trunk as a self-made bridge to cross a deep patch of swamp. In contrast to information from other great apes, which mostly show tool use in the context of food extraction, our observations show that in gorillas other factors such as habitat type can stimulate the use of tools.