Animal Tool Use

Tushar Agarwal, Ashten Bartz,

Zoe Peters, Eugene Yoon

A chimp discouraging human intruders by defecating & urinating from the

canopy.

A macaque discouraging a conspecific aggressor by snatching & brandishing

an infant macaque.

An archer fish spitting water droplets to fell a flying insect.

A herring gull opening a mussel by dropping it on stones.

A monkey using its tail to reach food. An oryx scratching its flank with its horn.

A gibbon pulling in a vine to get fruit growing at the end.

A rat pressing a lever in a Skinner box to get food.

A deer accumulating mud on its antlers to attract a mate.

An elephant spraying water on its back to cool off.

Which are Which are examplesexamples

of tool use? of tool use?

A chimp discouraging human intruders by defecating & urinating from the

canopy.

A macaque discouraging a conspecific aggressor by snatching & brandishing

an infant macaque.

An archer fish spitting water droplets to fell a flying insect.

A herring gull opening a mussel by dropping it on stones.

A monkey using its tail to reach food. An oryx scratching its flank with its horn.

A gibbon pulling in a vine to get fruit growing at the end.

A rat pressing a lever in a Skinner box to get food.

A deer accumulating mud on its antlers to attract a mate.

An elephant spraying water on its back to cool off.

Each of these behaviors has been considered in the scientific literature to be true tool use or related in some way to tool use.

Definitions of Tool Use

• Van Lawick-Goodall (1970): "the use of an external object as a functional extension of mouth or beak, hand or claw, in the attainment of an immediate goal”

• Alcock (1972): "the manipulation of an inanimate object, not internally manufactured, with the effect of improving the animal's efficiency in altering the form or position of some separate object"

• Beck (1980): “the external employment of an unattached environmental object to alter more efficiently the form, position, or condition of another object, another organism, or the user itself when the user holds or carries the tool during or just prior to use and is responsible for the proper and effective orientation of the tool”

By Van-Lawick & Alcock definitions:A chimp discouraging human intruders

by defecating & urinating from the canopy.

A macaque discouraging a conspecific aggressor by snatching & brandishing

an infant macaque.

An archer fish spitting water droplets to fell a flying insect.

A herring gull opening a mussel by dropping it on stones.

A monkey using its tail to reach food. An oryx scratching its flank with its horn.

A gibbon pulling in a vine to get fruit growing at the end.

A rat pressing a lever in a Skinner box to get food.

A deer accumulating mud on its antlers to attract a mate.

An elephant spraying water on its back to cool off.

Van Lawick-Goodall (1970): “the use of an external object as a functional extension of mouth or beak, hand or claw, in the attainment of an immediate goal”

Alcock (1972): "the manipulation of an inanimate object, not internally manufactured, with the effect of improving the animal's efficiency in altering the form or position of

some separate object"

By Beck’s definition:A chimp discouraging human intruders

by defecating & urinating from the canopy.

A macaque discouraging a conspecific aggressor by snatching & brandishing

an infant macaque.

An archer fish spitting water droplets to fell a flying insect.

A herring gull opening a mussel by dropping it on stones.

A monkey using its tail to reach food. An oryx scratching its flank with its horn.

A gibbon pulling in a vine to get fruit growing at the end.

A rat pressing a lever in a Skinner box to get food.

A deer accumulating mud on its antlers to attract a mate.

An elephant spraying water on its back to cool off.

Beck (1980): “the external employment of an unattached environmental object to alter more efficiently the form, position, or condition of another object, another organism, or the user itself when the user holds or carries the tool during or just prior to use and is responsible for the proper and effective orientation of the tool”

Question:

• Which definition do you like best? Why?

• How would you define tool use?

Tool Manufacture

• Any modification of an object by the user or a conspecific so that the object serves more effectively as a tool

• Four types:– Detaching

– Subtraction

– Addition/combination

– Reshaping

Activity!

Elephants• Behaviors observed (Beck 1980):

– Using leafy branches to chase flies from bodies• “fly switching”• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phE1i89XBwU

– Scratching self with sticks and twigs• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIi2cznaP2w

– Aiming and throwing objects toward both humans and large novel objects

• Increased accuracy with practice• Never observed throwing at predators

– Draping branches, leaves, and dirt over dead animals– Applying water, mud, dirt, and vegetation to bodies

• Very common activity• Purpose? Hygiene, thermoregulation and/or control of ectoparasites• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1_E1GwQbVU&feature=related

– Using sticks to obtain distant food• Can use stick held in trunk, or…• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3fil3DewoI

Elephants

• Relatively limited tool use

• Is limited limb manipulation the cause?

Octopus: Coconut Shelter

• Carry around coconut shell halves to use as shelter when needed

• “Stilt-walking”• Immediate cost but a deferred benefit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlh0cS2tf24

Finn, J. K., T. Tegenza, and M. D. Norman. 2009. Defensive tool use in a coconut-carrying octopus. Current Biology. 2009. 19:R1069-R1070

Sea Otters

• Opening shellfish by using stone as anvil: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdRlD35rl3g

• Drops stone after use, may retrieve particular stone for repeated use

• Spinning behavior

Hall, K. R. L. & Schaller, G. B. (1964). Tool-using behavior of the California sea otter. Journal of Mammology, 45(2), 287-298

Bottlenose Dolphins

• “Sponging”– Female bottlenose dolphins

break off marine sponge & place it over their mouth, using it to probe seafloor for fish prey

– Protection from scrapes & stings while foraging

– Almost exclusively females, not genetic; daughters learn from mothers (vertical cultural transmission)

• “Conching”– Relatively new innovation– May be used as a container to

catch fish– Independent learning

Common Forms of Tool Use in Birds

• Inserting sticks and twigs into crevices to retrieve food

• Using feathers, sticks, twigs and other long, thin, objects to preen– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI4bNeXzXBY

• Wiping substances off others and self

• Anting– Active v. Passive

Examples• Bower Birds of Australia and New Guinea

– Tool manufacture and use• Australian black-breasted buzzards and Egyptian vultures

– Dropping stones on eggs– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Tm9QdI_eM&feature=fvsr

• Australian white wing choughs– Hammering mussel shells open

• Captive bald eagles– Throwing objects at other animals

• Galapagos Island geospizine finches– Probe trees with long thin nature tools to extract insects for food– Lack of specialization in morphology the cause for tool use?

• Captive Blue Jays– Using objects to reach food outside cage

• Gila Woodpecker– Fed bits of bark dipped in watery honey to young

• Green Heron– Placing food on water surface to lure fish

• Common Crow and Cockatoo– Baling and scooping water with scooping objects– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RRI9NTzWJA

Crows

Tool use in nature•Grub extraction: http://youtu.be/xwVhrrDvwPM?t=2m14s•Dropping nuts on street: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NenEdSuL7QU Experimental setting•Tool manufacture (Betty): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoWsyhOhsR8•Sequential tool use (Betty): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE4BT8QSgZk

unt, G. R. (1996). Manufacture and use of hook-tools by New Caledonian crows. Nature, (379), 249-251

olzhaider, J. C., Hunt, G. R., & Gray, R. D. (2009). The development of pandanus tool manufacture in wild New Caledonian crows. Behaviour, (147), 553-586

Capuchins: Nut Cracking

• Select stones of appropriate weight and material to crack open palm nuts

• Recent study on their tool use analyzed:– Weight of individual cracking the nut– Nut-cracker’s technique– Size of the nuts– Type of surface on which the nuts were

cracked• Visual/Touching/Lifting/ Tapping

http://youtu.be/ABqRg_RbQlM?t=1m40sVisalberghi, E., Addessi E., Truppa V., et al. Selection of Effective Stone Tools by Wild Beared Capuchin Monkeys. Current Biology. 2009. 19: 213-217.

Orangutan Tool Use

• Original research: – Only used sticks to

extract honey & insects from tree holes or for prying seeds from hard-husked fruit

• New discoveries:– Sticks: fruit acquisition,

branch hooks– Leaves: “umbrellas,”

sponges, thorn pads, vocal signals

Raising the level: orangutans use water as a tool

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw1WzCBZ9Kc

•Peanut floating out of reach on water towards the bottom of a tall, thin tube

•All five orangutans completed the task successfully during the trial of first exposure, averaging 9 minutes

•Number of mouthfuls of water needed, latency between spitting & time to complete the task all decreased with subsequent trials

•Control condition: peanut taped to top of tube

•Difference between control & unreachable condition, sudden acquisition of the behavior & the timing of the actions make this behavior a “likely candidate for insightful problem solving”

(Mendes, Hanus & Call, 2007)

Implications of Cultural Transmission

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFACrIx5SZ0

Bentley-Condit & Smith (2010)• Tool use defined - Beck (1980): “the external employment of

an unattached environmental object to alter more efficiently the form, position, or condition of another object, another organism, or the user itself when the user holds or carries the tool during or just prior to use and is responsible for the proper and effective orientation of the tool”

– Exclude nest/abode building

• Tool manufacture defined - any modification of an object by the user or a conspecific so that the object serves more effectively as a tool

– Involves creation, not merely acquisition

– four types: detach, subtract, add/combine, reshape

Bentley-Condit & Smith (2010)

10 categories:

1. Food preparation

2. Food extraction

3. Food transport

4. Food capture

5. Physical maintenance

6. Mate attraction

7. Nest construction

8. Predator defense

9. Agonism

10. Other

Bentley-Condit & Smith (2010)

Catalog:

• 3 phyla represented (Arthropoda, Mollusca, Chordata)

• 7 classes represented (Insecta, Malacostraca, Gastropoda, Cephalopoda, Actinopterygii, Aves, Mammalia)

• In order of entries by class: – Aves (Passeriformes n = 194; total n = 277),

Mammalia (Primates n = 43; total n = 22), Insecta (total n = 53)