The Hindu : International : A gorilla gets cracking

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Wednesday, Oct 19, 2005

International

International

A gorilla gets cracking

Scientists intrigued by tool-using ape

GOMA: An infant gorilla in a sanctuary in Congo is smashing palm nuts between two rocks to extract oil. Its behaviour has surprised and intrigued scientists, who say they have much to learn about what gorillas can do — and about what that says about evolution.

It had been thought that the premeditated use of stones and sticks to accomplish a task like cracking nuts was restricted to humans and the smaller, more agile chimpanzees. Then, late last month, keepers at a Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International sanctuary in this eastern Congo city saw two-and-a-half-year-old female gorilla Itebero smashing palm nuts between rocks in the "hammer and anvil" technique, considered to be among the most complex tool-use behaviours.

"This is a surprising finding, given what we know about tool use in gorillas," Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund primatologist Patrick Mehlman said earlier this month at his Goma office. He said the finding indicated that complex tool use may not be a trait developed only by humans and chimpanzees, and could have its origins earlier in the evolutionary chain, among ancestors common to both humans and our closest relatives the great apes.

Itebero has been living in the sanctuary for a year, ever since it was confiscated by local authorities from poachers who had been trying to sell it. Mr. Mehlman said he believed Itebero started cracking nuts spontaneously and had not been influenced by the time it had spent among humans. — AP

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