One occasionally hears certain pro-raw pseudoscience types claiming that humans
are "naked apes, without tools". This nonsense is sometimes offered in support
of the false claim that humans are natural fruitarians=obligate frugivores. Of
course, such views are merely science fiction. That non-human primates use
tools for a variety of purposes is now well-known.

The article below describes the capuchin monkey using tools. (This is not the
first such article -- tool use by capuchins goes back years in the primatology
literature.) The capuchin monkey has a very small brain. Despite the handicap
in brain size, one might conclude that the capuchin monkey is actually smarter
than the pro-raw pseudoscience advocates who falsely describe humans as "naked
apes without tools", as the capuchin monkey has learned tool usage.

Journal title:    American Journal of Primatology
Citation details: Volume 64, Issue 4 , Pages 359 - 366

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/109805939/ABSTRACT

Article title:     Wild capuchin monkeys (Cebus libidinosus) use anvils and
stone pounding tools
Article authors:   Dorothy Fragaszy, Patrícia Izar, Elisabetta
Visalberghi, Eduardo B. Ottoni, Marino Gomes de Oliveira

Abstract
We conducted an exploratory investigation in an area where nut-cracking by wild
capuchin monkeys is common knowledge among local residents. In addition to
observing male and female capuchin monkeys using stones to pound open nuts on
stone anvils, we surveyed the surrounding area and found physical evidence that
monkeys cracked nuts on rock outcrops, boulders, and logs (collectively termed
anvils). Anvils, which were identified by numerous shallow depressions on the
upper surface, the presence of palm shells and debris, and the presence of
loose stones of an appropriate size to pound nuts, were present even on the
tops of mesas. The stones used to crack nuts can weigh >1 kg, and are
remarkably heavy for monkeys that weigh <4 kg. The abundance of shell remains
and depressions in the anvil surface at numerous anvil sites indicate that
nut-cracking activity is common and long-enduring. Many of the stones found on
anvils (presumably used to pound nuts) are river pebbles that are not present
in the local area we
surveyed (except on or near the anvils); therefore, we surmise that they were
transported to the anvil sites. Ecologically and behaviorally, nut-cracking by
capuchins appears to have strong parallels to nut-cracking by wild chimpanzees.
The presence of abundant anvil sites, limited alternative food resources,
abundance of palms, and the habit of the palms in this region to produce fruit
at ground level all likely contribute to the monkeys' routine exploitation of
palm nuts via cracking them with stones. This discovery provides a new
reference point for discussions regarding the evolution of tool use and
material culture in primates. Routine tool use to exploit keystone food
resources is not restricted to living great apes and ancestral hominids.

PS last post for today.

Tom Billings