An investigation into keeper opinions of great ape diets and abnormal behaviour
Zoos are evidencing a shift in great ape diets to cultivated fruit-free to achieve a more wild-type nutritional composition (lower sugar, higher fibre). This study aimed to ascertain great ape keeper knowledge and opinions on the removal of cultivated fruit from great ape diets, to investigate feeding regimes currently in use and to understand the […]
A Tool Use Task Proves Enriching for a Captive Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris)
Environmental enrichment is used to improve an animal’s physical and psychological well-being while housed in a captive environment. Alligood and Leighty (2015) suggested that enrichment that emulates the natural and preferred behaviors of the species may be optimal for improving welfare. Cognitive tasks that mirror challenges in an animal’s natural environment may prove especially beneficial […]
Tool use task as environmental enrichment for captive chimpanzees
Wild chimpanzees spend 50–80% of their time foraging, using tools and other forms of manipulation, while captive chimpanzees cannot. In this study, a device—honey in a bottle to be “fished” with artificial materials—that elicits tool use was presented to six captive chimpanzees housed in pairs. The task successfully reduced inactivity by about 52%, increased foraging […]
An experimental, comparative investigation of tool use in chimpanzees and gorillas
Studies of ape tool use have been conducted in captivity since the early 1900s and in the wild since the 1960s. Chimpanzees are the most prolific tool users among the apes, and are known to use more tools than any other nonhuman animal. In contrast, reports of gorilla tool use are rare both in wild […]
The Role of Behavioral Research in the Conservation of Chimpanzees and Gorillas
Chimpanzees and gorillas are among man’s closest living relatives, sharing most of the human genetic code and having many similarities to humans in anatomy, physiology, and behavior. Like humans, these apes make and use tools and have strong family bonds. Chimpanzees even show population-specific behaviors similar to those of human cultures. However, chimpanzee and gorilla […]
Probing the limits of tool competence: Experiments with two non-tool-using species (Cercopithecus aethiops and Saguinus oedipus)
Non-human animals vary in their ability to make and use tools. The goal of the present study was to further explore what, if anything, differs between tool-users and non-tool-users, and whether these differences lie in the conceptual or motor domain. We tested two species that typically do not use tools—cotton top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) and […]
Ladder Use and Clubbing by a Bonobo (Pan paniscus) in Apenheul Primate Park
Abstract 10.1002/zoo.10064.abs Two types of tool use were shown by a captive bonobo (Pan paniscus) in a large outdoor enclosure at Apenheul Primate Park in The Netherlands. A wild-born young adult female (estimated to be 9 years old) used fallen branches as ladders to bypass protective sheaths to gain access to trees. Later she used […]
Wild bearded capuchin monkeys (Cebus libidinosus) place nuts in anvils selectively
Are wild bearded capuchin monkeys selective about where they place nuts on anvils, specifically the anvil pits, during nut cracking? In the present study, we examined (1) whether capuchins’ preferences for particular pits are influenced by the effectiveness of the pit in cracking the nut and/or by the stability of the nut during striking, (2) […]
A comparison of bonobo and chimpanzee tool use: evidence for a female bias in the Pan lineage
Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, are the most sophisticated tool-users among all nonhuman primates. From an evolutionary perspective, it is therefore puzzling that the tool use behaviour of their closest living primate relative, the bonobo, Pan paniscus, has been described as particularly poor. However, only a small number of bonobo groups have been studied in the wild […]
Experimental studies of traditions and underlying transmission processes in chimpanzees
Multiple regional differences in tool use have been identified among wild chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, but the hypothesis that these represent traditions, transmitted through social learning, is difficult to substantiate without experimentation. To test chimpanzees’ capacity to sustain traditions, we seeded alternative tool use techniques in single individuals in different captive groups. One technique, [`]Lift’, spread […]