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ScienceQuiet 8d · day 8

Study finds chimpanzees actively teach tool use to their offspring

Wild chimps demonstrate tool use to infants, then hand over the tools so youngsters can copy the technique, researchers report.

newest coverage 7d agosummary written 7d ago8 pieces108 likes & upvotes3 comments MastodonNewswiresBlueskyHacker News

What to know

  • A new Frontiers in Psychology study finds wild chimpanzees deliberately teach tool use to infants, not just let them observe.
  • Adults, primarily mothers, demonstrate a tool's use and then physically hand it to infants to copy — described by researchers as 'tool transfer.'
  • Findings come from nearly 15 hours of video collected 2017–2025 at the Dindefelo Community Nature Reserve in Senegal.
  • The study builds on decades of chimp tool-use research since Jane Goodall's 1960 observation of a chimp using a stripped twig to fish for termites.

Andreu Sánchez-Megías Study co-authorUniversity of Barcelona / Jane Goodall Institute Spain Research institutions behind the study

Study finds chimpanzees actively teach tool use to their offspring
arstechnica.com

How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts

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  1. 1

    Frontiers in Psychology paper describes chimp 'tool transfer' teaching

    The published study concludes that adult chimpanzees, primarily mothers, model tool use and then hand tools to infants so they can imitate the motions, describing this food/tool transfer as a form of teaching alongside observation and supervised practice.

    “Tool transfers thus appear to be a form of teaching, together with observation and supervised practice. It appears that mothers are the main models and teachers for young chimpanzees in this manner.”
    — Andreu Sánchez-Megías
    1. 3 outlets How chimps teach their kids tool tricks

      first by Mastodon, 8d ago · also Ars Technica, Ars Science