Different chimpanzee communities may utilise different kinds of stone tools to crack nuts.
Numerous scientific studies have referred to early human-made tools. Hammerstones, stone cores, and sharp stone flakes are all included in these toolkits. However, it is surprising to discover that chimpanzees do have unique stone tools for cracking several nut types.
Early in 2022, while conducting fieldwork in the Ta Forest in Cote d'Ivoire to chronicle a troop of wild chimpanzees' use of stone tools, the researchers discovered a range of stone tools that were used to crack various nut varieties. Their research is now available on the Royal Society Open Science website.
According to experts, different chimpanzee populations have distinct tool use cultures that include both wooden and stone tools. Only a small number of West African tribes, though, employ stone tools to crack open nuts.
Researchers demonstrated that there are significant differences between the two groups in terms of their material culture by contrasting the 3D models of various stone tools used by chimpanzees in the Ta Forest with those from another group in Guinea.
The research demonstrates that this particular group of chimpanzees in Guinea employs enormous stone anvils, some of which can measure more than one meter in length, as well as stone hammers of various types and sizes.
These robust stone tools are widely distributed throughout the environment; they preserve varying degrees of wear and tear from their use and serve as a permanent record of chimpanzee habits.
Chimpanzees in the wild exhibit a range of tool-using behaviours. Nut cracking has been regarded as one of these forms that is the most complicated.
In its most complex form, a chimpanzee uses the flat surface of an anvil stone and the flat side of a hammer stone to strike a nut, releasing the nutrient-rich kernel inside.