Stone tool use in wild bearded capuchin monkeys, Cebus libidinosus. Is it a strategy to overcome food scarcity?
To determine whether tool use varied in relation to food availability in bearded capuchin monkeys, we recorded anvil and stone hammer use in two sympatric wild groups, one of which was provisioned daily, and assessed climatic variables and availability of fruits, invertebrates and palm nuts. Capuchins used tools to crack open encased fruits, mostly palm […]
Ecology of culture: do environmental factors influence foraging tool use in wild chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes verus?
Geographical variation in behaviour may be best explained in terms of culture if ecological and genetic explanations can be excluded. However, ecological conditions and genetic predispositions may in turn also affect cultural processes. We examined the influence of environmental factors on foraging tool use among chimpanzees at the Seringbara study site in the Nimba Mountains, […]