Wild Gorillas Impress With Their Tools

fatgav writes "The BBC is running an article about wild gorillas being seen to use tools in the wild. It is especially significant as not only have Gorillas never been seen to use tools, but they have been using them in a way unlike other great apes. From the article: 'The most astonishing thing is that we have observed them using tools not for obtaining food, but for postural support.' The scientists are getting excited as it can help to explain questions as to how the most advanced great ape (us) came to evolve."

Comments

But...

[Anonymous Coward]

Are we any closer to explaining this:
http://www.ntk.net/media/dancemonkeyboy.mpg.

And yet they say "Intelligent Design" isn't a falsifiable theory...

Re:But...

[HermanAB]

That video is different. It doesn't display any intelligence.

Re:But...

[MarkRose]

Well, some primates are definitely intelligent. After all, have you ever had this done to you at the zoo?

Let's just hope..

[yagu]

Let's just hope they never evolve to the level where they take up arms and declare war against us. Our record in Gorilla warfare hasn't been so stellar.

They don't impress me much...

[The Real Nem]

I thought Gorillas had relatively small "tools" compared to their human counterparts. Certainly nothing much to impress with.

Wow

[bahwi]

Such the wrong impression from that title. My mind is way too low right now.

I learn intellegent design from school.

[Anonymous Coward]

My teacher says it proves all answers are in the Bible and that science nowdays is work of the devil. If you believe in science you're a fool. I pray for your souls.

No big deal

[darklordyoda]

Not a big deal, we already control the gorillas' habitats.

Now when the dolphins grow opposable thumbs, then we're screwed.

Gorillas Gone Wild

[Zakabog]

See these WILD gorillas use their tools in ways never seen before! Order now and get "Gorillas Gone Wild: Spring Break Edition." A new tape sent every month, cancel any time!

Worst... Title... EVAR... +Some real facts

[Dave21212]

Wild Gorillas Impress With Their Tools... oh my, they do.

(Seriously, this is from a real book)
Excerpt From "Gorillas among Us: A Primate Ethnographer's Book of Days"

"They mated and were done in about two minutes. I guess he thought they were finished and went back to eating his celery. All of their matings before had been brief, usually only one or two copulations. But she turned around and stared at him again, just like before. He tried to turn away, but she stayed inches away from his face. They ended up mating thirty-three times that day. It was so funny, because he kept that celery in his hand the whole time and never got a chance to eat it. At the end of the day he came inside and passed out with that sorry wilted stalk still clenched in his fist."

Meta post...

[ktakki]

I predict that the comments to follow this story will consist of...

• 54 comments about the double-entendre of the story's headline
• 37 comments from people wondering where the gorillas got the credit card needed to order the Leatherman from thinkgeek.com
• 15 "I, for one, welcome our tool-using gorilla overlords..."
• 9 "In Soviet Uganda..."
• 3 actually substantive comments about the use of tools among primates and other animals, such as chimps using sticks to probe anthills and termite mounds, seagulls dropping shellfish on beachside parking lots to break them open, dolphins using sea sponges to protect their snouts as they forage for food near stinging stonefish, and wood finches using twigs and cactus spines to pry insects out of tree trunks.

k.

Re:Baboons

[Dave21212]

Actually, some folks think baboons are more intelligent than gorillas... Steve Van Nattan is one. Here's a really odd little story...

This will be a hard one to write. Baboons are naughty animals by human standards, and many a tourist has been shocked at the manners of these hairy beasts. I personally think the chimpanzee is highly over-rated as to intelligence. Liberal animal huggers most often give the chimp credit for being the smartest ape because he, like his alleged fool evolutionary heir, man, can smoke cigars and ride bicycles. A baboon would flunk if cigars are the deciding factor. Nevertheless, I vote for baboons in the intelligence ratings. I think you may agree after you read this story.

Ape Tales

[Doc Ruby]

I can't find the article in Google now, but I remember about 5 years ago reading about ape tribes exhibiting "written language" behavior. As I recall, apes would set out from their tribe's collective sleeping place to find food in nearby forest. After they found some, they'd return, breaking twigs along their path. Other apes in their tribe could follow the "signs" back to the food later. But apes of other tribes couldn't recognize the signs. The apes apparently learned to interpret the signs in their own tribal language, but not others.

Now they're seen using walking sticks. Perhaps we'll find that apes use the sticks in different styles, and that some styles are learned by watching other apes. What would we look for to discover that some of that learning is derived from the marks made by the sticks, rather than watching a stick-using ape "in person"? If we found those records, would we have discovered "ape fashion magazines"?

What a job...

[SenseOfHumor]

"We've been observing gorillas for 10 years here, and we have two cases of them using detached objects as tools,"...

Where do I sign up for these jobs?

we are not the most advanced

[PhatKat]

there is no most here. does anyone understand that? Evolution doesn't have a purpose, it just is. To say "we are the most advanced" is exactly the same as saying "in our opinion we are the most advanced" and since presumably no other animal can respond to us in our language, the ayes have it. It's still total hogwash though. to say "most advanced" can't be applied unless there are qualifiers. For instance "humans are the most advanced animals because we birth the heartiest young" or how about "humans are the most advanced because we have the most sophisticated perceptual awareness" or "humans are the most advanced because we are the most peaceful."

I'm not impressed by the walking stick, but

[Phase Shifter]

You have to admit the gorilla using a stick to determine the depth of water was impressive. Plenty of animals use tools, but how many use tools to make measurements?

hope creationists learn something from this

[efuzzyone]

I hope creationists read this and learn something from it, so that they stop confusing young minds.

of course

[albeit unknown]

They use chairs as a tool. An alpha male will throw a chair at a beta male leaving for another tribe.

Re:Worst... Title... EVAR... +Some real facts

[bsartist]

That last sentence... is he talking about the celery?