An orangutan uses a human-made sharp stone flake as a tool (video stills).
An orangutan uses a human-made sharp stone flake as a tool (video stills) . Basic skills for using stone tools may be more widespread among primates than we previously thought: A study led by researchers from the University of Tübingen in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and the University of Barcelona shows that orangutans spontaneously recognize and use human-made sharp stones as cutting tools. In this re-gard, their skills even exceeded those of chimpanzees, one of our closest living relatives and the only other ape species whose spontaneous abilities in this task had been previously tested. The find-ings were published in the journal PLOS ONE. The results have added a new piece to the puzzle of the technological origins of our species, say Dr. Alba Motes-Rodrigo and Dr. Claudio Tennie. The study, financed by the European Research Council's STONECULT grant, tested the abilities of five untrained, unenculturated orangutans in two different European zoos to make and use stone tools on their own and after exposure to human demonstrations. The orangutans were presented with baited puzzle boxes and also offered sharp pieces of flaked stone.
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