scholarly journals Is primate tool use special? Chimpanzee and New Caledonian crow compared

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1630) ◽  
pp. 20120422 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. C. McGrew
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Extractive Foraging ◽  
New Caledonian Crow ◽  
Elementary Technology ◽  
Caledonian Crow ◽  
Sustained Field ◽  
Corvus Moneduloides

The chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes ) is well-known in both nature and captivity as an impressive maker and user of tools, but recently the New Caledonian crow ( Corvus moneduloides ) has been championed as being equivalent or superior to the ape in elementary technology. I systematically compare the two taxa, going beyond simple presence/absence scoring of tool-using and -making types, on four more precise aspects of material culture: (i) types of associative technology (tools used in combination); (ii) modes of tool making; (iii) modes of tool use; and (iv) functions of tool use. I emphasize tool use in nature, when performance is habitual or customary, rather than in anecdotal or idiosyncratic. On all four measures, the ape shows more variety than does the corvid, especially in modes and functions that go beyond extractive foraging. However, more sustained field research is required on the crows before this contrast is conclusive.

scholarly journals Sex Bias and Social Influences on Savanna Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) Nest Building Behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 849-869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona A. Stewart ◽  
Jill D. Pruetz
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Pan Troglodytes Verus ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Extractive Foraging ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Adult Females

AbstractMany primates show sex differences in behavior, particularly social behavior, but also tool use for extractive foraging. All great apes learn to build a supportive structure for sleep. Whether sex differences exist in building, as in extractive foraging, is unknown, and little is known about how building skills develop and vary between individuals in the wild. We therefore aimed to describe the nesting behavior of savanna chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Fongoli, Senegal to provide comparative data and to investigate possible sex or age differences in nest building behaviors and nest characteristics. We followed chimpanzee groups to their night nesting sites to record group (55 nights) and individual level data (17 individuals) on nest building initiation and duration (57 nests) during the dry season between October 2007 and March 2008. We returned the following morning to record nest and tree characteristics (71 nests built by 25 individuals). Fongoli chimpanzees nested later than reported for other great apes, but no sex differences in initiating building emerged. Observations were limited but suggest adult females and immature males to nest higher, in larger trees than adult males, and adult females to take longer to build than either adult or immature males. Smaller females and immature males may avoid predation or access thinner, malleable branches, by nesting higher than adult males. These differences suggest that sex differences described for chimpanzee tool use may extend to nest building, with females investing more time and effort in constructing a safe, warm structure for sleep than males do.

Sequential Tool Use in the New Caledonian Crow

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Wimpenny ◽  
Alex A. S. Weir ◽  
Alex Kacelnik
Keyword(s):  
Tool Use ◽  
New Caledonian Crow ◽  
Caledonian Crow

Notes on the biology of the threatened Island Thrush Turdus poliocephalus xanthopus in New Caledonia

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 616-626
Author(s):  
PASCAL VILLARD ◽  
THOMAS DUVAL ◽  
CHRISTIAN PAPINEAU ◽  
JEAN-JÉRÔME CASSAN ◽  
JÉRÔME FUCHS
Keyword(s):  
New Caledonia ◽  
Rattus Rattus ◽  
Coastal Forest ◽  
Significant Component ◽  
Predator Species ◽  
Black Rat ◽  
New Caledonian Crow ◽  
Caledonian Crow ◽  
Nest Predator ◽  
Corvus Moneduloides

SummaryThree subspecies of Island Thrush Turdus poliocephalus were historically found in New Caledonia. All these subspecies were considered extinct until 1978, when T. p. xanthopus was rediscovered on two small islands, Néba (∼ 3.5 km2) and Yandé (∼ 13 km2). On Néba, we estimated the population at 44–58 individuals. This Island Thrush population is dependent on the coastal forest, the richest habitat for invertebrates. However, the coastal forest habitat has been degraded in quality and extent. The Island Thrush forages in the litter by removing leaves with its bill. Fruits (diameter < 10 mm), picked from trees and swallowed whole, are also a significant component of its diet. Néba and Yandé are currently free of two nest predator species, the black rat Rattus rattus and the New Caledonian Crow Corvus moneduloides. On Néba, a low breeding success rate of 15.4% was found. To ensure conservation of these relict thrush populations, two actions at least should be implemented: setting up a biosecurity programme to keep islands free of black rats and increasing the area of coastal forest. The latter could be done by cutting down coconut trees in abandoned groves and planting tree species used by the Island Thrush to provide shade, fruits, good leaf litter, and nest support.

scholarly journals Spread of arbitrary conventions among chimpanzees: a controlled experiment

2006 ◽  
Vol 274 (1608) ◽  
pp. 367-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin E Bonnie ◽  
Victoria Horner ◽  
Andrew Whiten ◽  
Frans B.M de Waal
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Functional Material ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Logical Connection ◽  
Action Sequences ◽  
Group Member

Wild chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) have a rich cultural repertoire—traditions common in some communities are not present in others. The majority of reports describe functional, material traditions, such as tool use. Arbitrary conventions have received far less attention. In the same way that observations of material culture in wild apes led to experiments to confirm social transmission and identify underlying learning mechanisms, experiments investigating how arbitrary habits or conventions arise and spread within a group are also required. The few relevant experimental studies reported thus far have relied on cross-species (i.e. human–ape) interaction offering limited ecological validity, and no study has successfully generated a tradition not involving tool use in an established group. We seeded one of two rewarded alternative endpoints to a complex sequence of behaviour in each of two chimpanzee groups. Each sequence spread in the group in which it was seeded, with many individuals unambiguously adopting the sequence demonstrated by a group member. In one group, the alternative sequence was discovered by a low ranking female, but was not learned by others. Since the action-sequences lacked meaning before the experiment and had no logical connection with reward, chimpanzees must have extracted both the form and benefits of these sequences through observation of others.

Morphology and sexual dimorphism of the New Caledonian Crow Corvus moneduloides, with notes on its behaviour and ecology

Ibis ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 146 (4) ◽  
pp. 652-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Kenward ◽  
Christian Rutz ◽  
Alex A. S. Weir ◽  
Jackie Chappell ◽  
Alex Kacelnik
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
New Caledonian Crow ◽  
Caledonian Crow ◽  
Corvus Moneduloides
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