Chimp & See Talk

Lovely "family" scene

  • AnLand by AnLand moderator

    I don't know what this close association means and who the adult male is (two other males are joining), but it looks somehow nice and interesting. So I am showing it here. ACP00057s9, ACP00057sa, ACP00057sb, ACP00057sc

    enter image description here

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  • jwidness by jwidness moderator

    I love the scenes with lots of chimps! The interactions are so fun to watch 😃 Nice find!

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  • Quia by Quia moderator

    Very cool scene! I wonder, is he making a spear with that stick? The glare is in all the wrong spots to see what he's doing, but...

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  • ksigler by ksigler moderator

    The way he carries it off with him would lead me to believe it's a #tool. It looks like the ones the science teams have found before.

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  • AnLand by AnLand moderator

    @MimiA said earlier that the only evidence for spears is at the Fongoli site (where they are hunting galagos with it!). The fact that he is carrying with him might hint that he wants to do something with it. But I am sceptical and think he is only feeding as we've seen before at this site. (Or just bored ...)

    It does not look like a hunting party and I don't know how big the time frame to prepare tools for something you want to attempt later might be.

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  • Boleyn by Boleyn moderator

    Could it be a stick to "fish" for termites? I think I remember a movie where I have seen chimps pushing a stick in a hole in a termite mound?

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  • AnLand by AnLand moderator

    Yes, of course that could be. But we do not see anything like this and do not know whether there are termite mounds present like in Muddy Frost. I think, we only saw two kinds of eating at Crimson Dew so far: chimps with fruit pulp in their mouth like Ralph here: ACP0005a6g and pith eating from branches as discussed here: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/boards/BCP000000k/discussions/DCP00009l3

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  • jwidness by jwidness moderator

    To me, this doesn't look like the kind of plant they use for termites. At one field site, they are documented to use different kinds of tools for termites -- big fat sticks to break open the mound, and thin flexible ones for fishing (among others). The big sticks can be almost any type of strong tree/plant, so they find they them near the mound. The flexible ones have to be a particular type of plant that they can shred a bit to have it feathery at the end for efficiently picking up termites. These are harder to find -- they're not always close to the mound and they will bring them from far away if they need to. So I would say he's just eating, as discussed in the thread @AnLand linked to.

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  • AnLand by AnLand moderator in response to jwidness's comment.

    (Of course, each site/community can have their own tools. That is what the whole project is about.)

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  • Boleyn by Boleyn moderator in response to jwidness's comment.

    ...or he is just gnawing at the stick to make a feathery end? many possibilities here 😃

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  • jwidness by jwidness moderator

    Here's a fun video (in two parts) of chimps using tools and tool sets -- you can see the feathery brush-tipped one I was talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT4icBv6gZI and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB3A3094U1I

    (Side note: @MimiA is an executive producer on the video, maybe she can tell us more!)

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  • Boleyn by Boleyn moderator in response to jwidness's comment.

    thanks for sharing @jwidness, great videos! They are so clever and skilled! ...and cute! 😃

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  • ksigler by ksigler moderator in response to jwidness's comment.

    Wow... It's fascinating to see the ingenuity they possess in creating specialized tools and developing dual-sided multi-tools. I'll remember these videos and be humbled the next time I struggle to open a bag of chips, or break a straw trying to take off the wrapper. 😃

    And I love the clip at the end of the 2nd video where the baby climbs up the mother's head to get into the tree! Such patience and tolerance the mothers have for the little ones. That's really beautiful.

    Thanks for these!

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  • MimiA by MimiA scientist, moderator

    Hey guys - this certainly looks like he is making a tool. Just as you guys pointed out it looks like he is feathering the end of the stick - this could be for termites or honey extraction. As you guys also pointed out seems like he is headed somewhere for where this tool will be needed. If he was just eating I don't think he would take the toold with him. You would also see him more peeling the stick to get at the pith. great find!

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