[This is a resend. Original post never arrived at my end.] 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, PatrĂcia 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. Tom Billings