Tool use and tool-making by chimpanzees
Uso y fabricación de herramientas por chimpancés
- Date
- octubre de 1960 · confidence high
- Place
- Gombe Stream National Park, Kigoma, Tanzania
- Credited to
- Jane Goodall
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
In 1960 Jane Goodall saw a chimpanzee (David Greybeard) strip a twig to fish for termites. The finding forced a redefinition of 'tool' and of the boundary between humans and other primates.
Louis Leakey replied: 'Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees as humans.' Chimpanzees at Taï and elsewhere show different traditions.
What it led to
- more than 60 years of continuous fieldwork at Gombe
- modern primatology and animal cultures
- reflection on the origin of tools