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Chimps Use Tool Kit
Wannabe Code Monkey writes "This article on National Geographic describes how scientists have observed chimps using different sticks for different tasks when retrieving termites from nests. Scientists had previously only seen chimps using one kind of tool, this switching back and forth based on the task at hand is the first such behavior witnessed. Three videos in Real format of the chimps are linked from the article as well."
Those chimps, rooting through your tool kit, probably looking for a spanner to tighten their nuts!
Why, just the other day, I saw Bush use one microphone to bash Kerry, and then another to claim that going to war in Iraq has made America safer. Those critters are smarter than we think!
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
I knew chimps were smart but not that smart! :)
Pink Heinied Baboon?
GTK? Qt? Motif? :-P
Talk about a code monkey...
Are they using the Gorilla Tool Kit or do they use the smaller FLTK?
That was WAY too easy...
...But I digress. TREMBLE PUNY HUMANS!ONE DAY MY SPECIES WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!
My dad always told me that "A dog will warm himself by the fire, but will never throw another log on it." So now, I guess a chimp will add fuel, but won't get one started?
This also reminds me of that old headline at The Onion: "Dolphins Develop Thumbs: 'Oh Shit,' say Humans"
"Wow. Now THAT'S a lot of angry Indians." - Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer
Well, looks like most of us here can start looking for new jobs soon. *sigh*
Every time I've seen any coverage of tool-using chimps (OK, Discovery and National Geographic) they've highlighted that the tool usage among chimps is usually unique to a specific group of chimps and is learned behaviour.
If you put a chimp in a new place where certain types of tools get used, it won't 'know' that tool is the applicable one. Likewise, young chimps take a while to actually learn to use the tool for what they're trying to accomplish.
I wonder if this is a recently adapted tool by this group of chimps, or if this is a tool variation like most of the others that have been passed down within this group of chimps.
Nonetheless, it's interesting to get the insight as to how we might have developed/evolved our tool using capabilities.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
This isn't news... the local Ford dealer has had chimps using tools to work on cars for years.
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Objects in Mirror are Losing!
When you only have one kind of stick, every problem looks like a termite.
Probably GTK, if I had to guess...
*everything* is Orwellian to cats.
At the San Diego Zoo, they have an exhibit called "Absolutely Apes" (which you can watch live. The exhibit has both Orangutans and Siamangs inside.
One of the "enrichment" items in the exhibit is a "terminte mound" made of concrete that the keepers put treats inside of: honey, barbecue sauce, etc.
The orangutans are smart enough to use tools like twigs to get the treats out, but the saimangs do not understand this concept.
This seems a tad unfair, but the siamangs are smart enough to wait until the orangutans get the goodies out, and then the smaller apes sneak up and steal the tasty twigs!
- The Amazina Llama
They actually were presented with a windows box and a control panel open with the new win xp layout. The chimps flung their poo at the screen, which shows obvious humanlike behaviour. Microsoft experts interpreted this as an approval to use it in future versions.
Has anyone ported Linux to this new chimpset?
I for one welcome our new Chimp overlords...
-- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
"No, no, no. This one is for the termites. That one is for the ladies."
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Hey. I have a patent on retrieving insects with small sticks. I filed for it just after my first experience using chopsticks.
I'm going to sue the crap out of those monkeys. They can't go using my stick-poker-kill-bug technique...
You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
A nifty theory - on that's being brought closer to proof here. Life is evolving. In time moneys will be able to communicate more clearly with us, too. Dogs and other critters will pick up a formal language renderable with humans as well.
All life is getting smarter - surpirse!
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-shpoffo
this switching back and forth based on the task at hand
This is proof that chimps flip-flop!!
Wanted, experienced sysadmin. Must be able to use multiple tools and work for bananas.
Among the behaviors noted in birds:
- Making hooks and combs, then carrying the tools around with them -- and sharing them with others.
- Using car traffic to crack nuts.
- Raiding mountaineer food caches marked with flags.
- Counting and expressing their desires in words.
- Playing around with speed dial buttons and speakerphones.
- Leading other birds to food.
- Commercial transactions with people.
Of course, not all birds do all these things. But, they must be considered in the same ballpark as chimps and dolphins.i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
Looks like the guys at Dell will have an even cheaper place to outsource their maintenance operations to.
It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
Maybe I'm just letting myself get distracted by my housemates' 8 month old German Shepherd's efforts to do archaeology in our yard.
Several times I read "A dog will warm himself by the fire, but will never throw another log on it" as "never throw another dog on it" and so was infering that DaddyWanker was claiming dogs could make the moral distinction between inanimate fuel and other dogs, or maybe claiming that dogs are innately more moral than human arsonists if not crematorium operators.
Most dogs I've known can find better things to do with tree parts than accelerating greenhouse warming.
More on topic, one of my own sadly long departed dogs became quite good at taking any old branch and stripping it down until it was much better shaped for throwing and fetching, a toy maker if not a tool maker.
-- Our systemic servants do not good masters make.
I am not exactly sure when, but this is old news, and had been published by SA at least 2 years previously.
slashdot is really degrading lately......
The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.