Evolutionary puzzle gets another clue as gorillas observed using tools

Evolutionary puzzle gets another clue as gorillas observed using tools

The fine line dividing apes from Homo sapiens has been blurred considerably after researchers photographed gorillas using simple tools in a remote forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It has been generally accepted that man evolved form apes and that he was the only one on the planet credited with using tools to make his life simpler. Now researchers have found evidence that gorillas also have the intellect to use simple tools in the wild.

The gorillas were observed using sticks to test the depth of muddy waters before crossing them. "In the first case, we had a female crossing a pool; and this female has crossed this pool by using a detached stick and testing the water depth, and trying to use it as a walking stick," said Thomas Breuer, from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Breuer leads the team that is scouring for evolutionary evidence in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The researchers have been at the National Park for over a decade and have observed two cases where apes have used simple tools to overcome their problems.

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In the second instance, researchers observed a female gorilla named Efi, pick a dead branch and use it while foraging for food in the swamp. Later, the stick was used as a platform to cross the swamp. "We have now seen tool use in all types of ape so we think it evolved in all the separate lineages. That does not happen too often in nature so it may be that tool use has been there before our species separated from the great apes," observed Dr. Breuer.

The details of the observations are published in the latest issue of the Public Library of Science Biology.