Tool use by animals
Encyclopedia
Tool
Tool
A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...

s are used by some animals, particularly primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...

s, to perform simple tasks such as the acquisition of food, or grooming
Personal grooming
Personal grooming is the art of cleaning, grooming, and maintaining parts of the body. It is a species-typical behavior that is controlled by neural circuits in the brain.- In humans :...

. Originally thought to be a skill only possessed by human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

s, tool use requires some level of intelligence. Primates have been observed exploiting sticks and stones to accomplish tasks. Numerous bird species have also been noted as capable of using tools. The behaviour has also been observed in dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...

s, elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

s, otter
Otter
The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....

s, bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s and octopuses
Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...

. Tools may be used by animals for construction.

Opposable thumb
Thumb
The thumb is the first digit of the hand. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position , the thumb is the lateral-most digit...

s are a benefit in tool use, though creatures without hands have managed to use other body parts to their advantage, notably the mouth.

Definition of "tool"

The key to identifying tool use is defining what constitutes a tool. Researchers of animal behavior have arrived at different formulations.

Uses

Tool use implies that an animal has knowledge of the relationship between objects and their effects.

If an object is placed out of reach on a towel that itself is in reach, dogs, cats, and children will pull the towel to bring the object closer to them.

Sticks can be used to break into termite nests for food or even to fight rivals. They are sometimes used for grooming. Stones can be used, again, to fight rivals. However, they may also be used by more intelligent animals to carve bits of wood.

Some species such as the Woodpecker Finch
Woodpecker Finch
The Woodpecker Finch, Camarhynchus pallidus, is a species of bird in the Darwin's finch group of the tanager family Thraupidae. Woodpecker Finches occur widely in the Galapagos Islands, from sea level to high elevations....

 of the Galapagos Islands
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...

 use particular tools as an essential part of their foraging
Foraging
- Definitions and significance of foraging behavior :Foraging is the act of searching for and exploiting food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce...

 behavior. However, these behaviors are often quite inflexible and cannot be applied effectively in new situations. Several species have been shown to be capable of more flexible tool use. A well-known example is Jane Goodall's observation of chimpanzees "fishing" for termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...

s in their natural environment, and captive great apes are often observed to use tools effectively. Several species of corvids have also been trained to use tools in controlled experiments, or use bread crumbs for bait-fishing.

Primates

The animals that make the widest use of tools are human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

s, which have developed mechanical, electric and electronic tools for multiple purposes, far in advance of even the most advanced non-human animals.

Research in 2007 shows that chimpanzee
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...

s in the Fongoli savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...

 sharpen sticks to use as spear
Spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...

s when hunting, considered the first evidence of systematic use of weapons in a species other than humans. Chimpanzees and bonobos were observed in the 1970s using sticks as probes to collect ants and termites. Dr. Jane Goodall, on Nov. 4, 1960, observed a chimpanzee using a grass stalk to extract termites. Also they have been observed cutting down the stick with their fingers and teeth so that it can fit into a hole in the ants' nest. They have even been observed using two tools, a stick to dig into the ant nest and a "brush" made from grass stems with their teeth to collect the ants.

In West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

, chimpanzees have been observed banging nuts with a stone in order to crack them. Some troops use another stone whilst others use heavy sticks. In one troop of chimpanzees, it was observed that a female was using a stick to break into a bee hive to acquire honey. In an experiment, a group of chimpanzees were presented with a model leopard with a moving head. There was soon a commotion, as leopards are one of the chimpanzees' predators. They were then observed clubbing the model with fallen trees and branches. They continued doing this until the moving head had fallen off. Both bonobos and chimpanzees have also been observed making "sponges" out of leaves and moss that suck up water and are used as grooming tools.

Gorillas have been observed using sticks to measure the depth of water and as "walking sticks" to support their posture when crossing deeper water.

Orangutans have also been observed using sticks to measure the depth of water. It has also been observed that orangutans in Sumatra use sticks to acquire seeds from a certain fruit. This is because the lining of the inside of the fruit has hairs that sting. On the island of Kaja, a male orangutan was observed using a pole to acquire fish from a net after observing local humans spear fishing.

Tool use has been observed in capuchin monkey
Capuchin monkey
The capuchins are New World monkeys of the genus Cebus. The range of capuchin monkeys includes Central America and South America as far south as northern Argentina...

s both in captivity and in their natural environments. In a captive environment, capuchins readily insert a stick into a tube containing viscous food that clings to the stick, which they then extract and lick. Capuchins also use a stick to push food from the center of a tube retrieving the food when it reaches the far end, and as a rake to sweep objects or food toward themselves.

Wild capuchin monkeys in many areas use stone hammers and anvils to crack nuts and encased seed. They transport stones and nuts to an anvil for this purpose. Capuchins also use stones to excavate tubers and sticks to flush prey from inside rock crevices.

Birds

Many bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s have been shown to be capable of using tools.
According to Jones and Kamil's definition, an Egyptian vulture
Egyptian Vulture
The Egyptian Vulture is a small Old World vulture, found widely distributed from southwestern Europe and northern Africa to southern Asia. It is the only living member of the genus Neophron. It has sometimes also been known as the White Scavenger Vulture or Pharaoh's Chicken...

 dropping a bone on a rock would not be using a tool since the rock cannot be seen as an extension of the body. However, the use of a rock manipulated using the beak to crack an ostrich
Ostrich
The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...

 egg would qualify the Egyptian vulture as a tool user. Many other species, including parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...

s, corvids and a range of passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...

s, have been noted as tool users.

New Caledonian Crow
New Caledonian Crow
The New Caledonian Crow is a tool-using species of crow endemic to New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands. These crows are some of the only non-primate animals known to invent new tools by modifying existing ones, and then passing these innovations on to other individuals in the cultural group...

s have been observed in the wild using stick tools with their beaks to extract insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s from logs. While young birds in the wild normally learn this technique from elders, a laboratory crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...

 named "Betty" improvised a hooked tool from a wire with no prior experience. The Woodpecker Finch
Woodpecker Finch
The Woodpecker Finch, Camarhynchus pallidus, is a species of bird in the Darwin's finch group of the tanager family Thraupidae. Woodpecker Finches occur widely in the Galapagos Islands, from sea level to high elevations....

 from the Galapagos Islands
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...

 also uses simple stick tools to assist it in obtaining food. In captivity
Captivity (animal)
Animals that live under human care are in captivity. Captivity can be used as a generalizing term to describe the keeping of either domesticated animals or wild animals. This may include for example farms, private homes and zoos...

, a young Cactus Finch
Cactus finch
Cactus finch may refer to the following birds:*Common Cactus-finch, Geospiza scandens, Small cactus finch.*Large Cactus-finch, Geospiza conirostris....

 learned to imitate this behaviour by watching a Woodpecker Finch in an adjacent cage
Birdcage
A birdcage is a cage designed to house birds as pets.Antique birdcages are often popular as collectors' items or as household decor but most are not suitable for housing live birds, being too small, or of unsafe materials or construction...

. Crows in urban Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 have innovated a technique to crack hard-shelled nut
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...

s by dropping them onto cross walks and letting them be run over and cracked by cars. They then retrieve the cracked nuts when the cars are stopped at the red light. In some towns in America, crows would drop walnuts onto busy streets and hope the cars would crack the nuts. Striated Heron
Striated Heron
The Striated Heron, Butorides striata, also known as Mangrove Heron, Little Heron or Green-backed Heron, is a small heron. Striated Herons are mostly non-migratory and noted for some interesting behavioral traits. Their breeding habitat is small wetlands in the Old World tropics from west Africa to...

s (Butorides striatus) and Hooded Crow
Hooded Crow
The Hooded Crow is a Eurasian bird species in the crow genus. Widely distributed, it is also known locally as Scotch Crow, Danish Crow, and Corbie or Grey Crow in Ireland, which is what its Welsh name, Brân Lwyd, translates as...

s (Corvus cornix) use bait to catch fish.

Seagulls have been known to drop live oyster shells on paved and hard surfaces so that cars can drive over them and break the shell. So many get dropped that it is hard to drive down pavements safely near waterways. Certain species (e.g. the Herring Gull
Herring Gull
The European Herring Gull is a large gull , and is the most abundant and best known of all gulls along the shores of western Europe. It breeds across Northern Europe, Western Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltic states...

) have exhibited tool use behavior, using pieces of bread as bait
Bait (luring substance)
Bait is any substance used to attract prey, e.g. in a mousetrap.-In Australia:Baiting in Australia refers to specific campaigns to control foxes, wild dogs and dingos by poisoning in areas where they are a problem...

 with which to catch goldfish
Goldfish
The goldfish is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It was one of the earliest fish to be domesticated, and is one of the most commonly kept aquarium fish....

, for example.

Common raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...

s are one of only a few species who make their own toys. They have been observed breaking off twigs to play with socially. Experimentation has also shown that ravens are capable of deducing how to pull up food suspended on a string.

Many owners of household parrots have observed their pets using various tools to scratch the back of their necks, including, but not limited to, discarded feathers, bottle caps, and popsicle sticks.

Cetaceans

, scientists have observed limited groups of Bottlenose dolphin
Bottlenose Dolphin
Bottlenose dolphins, the genus Tursiops, are the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Recent molecular studies show the genus contains two species, the common bottlenose dolphin and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin , instead of one...

s around the Australian Pacific using a basic tool. When searching for food on the sea
Sea
A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...

 floor, many of these dolphins were seen tearing off pieces of sponge
Sea sponge
Sponges are animals of the phylum Porifera . Their bodies consist of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells. While all animals have unspecialized cells that can transform into specialized cells, sponges are unique in having some specialized cells, but can also have...

 and wrapping them around their "bottle nose" to prevent abrasions. Bottlenose dolphins have also been observed using conch shells to trap small fish, then lifting the shells out of the water causing the fish to fall into the dolphin's mouth.

Dolphins are often seen engaging in playful behavior and create tools to use for entertainment. They have been observed blowing bubbles, which they form into rings to play with. After creating the bubble ring
Bubble ring
A bubble ring, or ring bubble, is an underwater ring vortex where an air bubble occupies the core of the vortex, forming a ring shape. The ring of air as well as the nearby water spins poloidally as it travels through the water, much like a flexible bracelet might spin when it is rolled on to a...

, a dolphin will use its nose and body to maintain the shape of the bubble and keep it from floating to the surface.

Elephants

Elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

s show an ability to use tool
Tool
A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...

s despite having no hands. Instead, they use their trunk much like one would an arm. Elephants have been observed digging holes to drink water and then ripping bark from a tree, chewing it into the shape of a ball, filling in the hole and covering it with sand to avoid evaporation
Evaporation
Evaporation is a type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs only on the surface of a liquid. The other type of vaporization is boiling, which, instead, occurs on the entire mass of the liquid....

. They would later go back to the spot for a drink. They also often use branches to swat flies or scratch themselves. Elephants have also been known to drop large rocks onto an electric fence
Electric fence
An electric fence is a barrier that uses electric shocks to deter animals or people from crossing a boundary. The voltage of the shock may have effects ranging from uncomfortable, to painful or even lethal...

 to either ruin the fence or cut off the electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

. Elephants in captivity have been observed moving objects from one location to another in order to use them as stools to stand upon to access food that is otherwise out of reach.

Mustelids

Sea otters have been observed using stones to hammer abalone shells off the rocks. They hammer at a rate of 45 hits in 15 seconds or 180 rpm, and do it in two-three dives.

Veined octopus

As of 2009, the octopus is the only invertebrate animal which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus
Veined Octopus
Amphioctopus marginatus, also known as the coconut octopus and veined octopus, is a medium-sized cephalopod belonging to the genus Amphioctopus. It is found in tropical waters of the western Pacific Ocean...

 (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, transporting them some distance, stacking them and then reassembling them to use as a shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology
Current Biology
Current Biology is a scientific journal that covers all areas of biology, especially molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, neurobiology, ecology and evolutionary biology. The journal is published twice a month and includes peer-reviewed research articles, various types of review articles, as...

and has been filmed on video. This can be seen as tool use because it uses the shells as an extension of its skin for protection against predators.

Most hermit crabs use discarded shells of other species for habitation and other crabs choose sea anemones to cultivate on their carapaces as camouflage; numerous insects use rocks, sand, leaves and so on as building materials, however none of this is classified as tool use.

Fish

Several species of wrasses have been observed using rocks as anvils to crack bivalve shells.

See also

  • Animal cognition
    Animal cognition
    Animal cognition is the title given to the study of the mental capacities of non-human animals. It has developed out of comparative psychology, but has also been strongly influenced by the approach of ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology...

  • Bird intelligence
    Bird intelligence
    Bird intelligence deals with the definition of intelligence and its measurement as it applies to birds. Traditionally, birds have been considered inferior in intelligence to mammals, and derogatory terms such as bird brains have been used colloquially in some cultures. Such perceptions are no...

  • Cephalopod intelligence
    Cephalopod intelligence
    Cephalopod intelligence has an important comparative aspect in the understanding of intelligence because it relies on a nervous system fundamentally different from that of vertebrates...

  • Cetacean intelligence
    Cetacean intelligence
    Cetacean intelligence denotes the cognitive capabilities of the Cetacea order of mammals, which includes whales, porpoises, and dolphins.-Brain size:...

  • Elephant intelligence
    Elephant intelligence
    Elephants are amongst the world's most intelligent species. With a mass of just over 5 kg , elephant brains are larger than those of any other land animal, and although the largest whales have body masses twenty-fold those of a typical elephant, whale brains are barely twice the mass of an...

  • Structures built by animals
    Structures built by animals
    Nature abounds with structures built by animals other than humans, or animal architecture, as it is commonly termed, such as termite mounds, wasp and bee hives, burrow complexes of rodents, beaver dams, elaborate nests of birds, webs of spiders and many more.Often, these structures incorporate...

  • Tool
    Tool
    A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...


External links

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