A scout group of Pan troglodytes in southeast Senegal are leaven to be a continued source of surprisal and amazement for primatologists . Not only do members forge weapons to hunt , making them the only bonk group to use tools to injure or kill quarry , but it turn out that females really employ in this behavior more than males . This could mean that , unexpectedly , female chimps open up tool use for hunting , and that the first weapon - yielding former humanscould have also been female person . The research has been published inRoyal Society Open Science .
Back in 2007 , whilst keep a grouping of savannah Pan troglodytes in Fongoli , Senegal , Iowa State Universityanthropologist Jill Pruetz recognize something that had never before been observed : soul were reach sharp shaft and using them to trace vertebrate prey . But that was n’t the only thing that stood out , as Preutz also noticed that more female were engaging in this behavior than Male . At the time , she and her research squad did not have enough data to be capable to assert that it was indeed more common in females , so they continued to trace the animals for the next seven class .
During this time , the scientist observed scout group members snapping off branch , dispatch the leaves and even using their tooth to dress and sharpen the ends . On average , these tools were around 75 centimeters ( 30 inches ) in length . arm in hand , the chimp would then creep up on slumber bush babies and dig them , either mortally or wounding them enough to make them easy to snatch and wipe out with hands and teeth .
Throughout the continuance of the study , the team observedmore than 300 tool - assisted hunts , 175 of which were execute by female . fall in the fact that hunt groups were manly dominated , with females usually only making up 40 % of the phallus , males were significantly less likely to hunt than females , carrying out only 39 % of the Holman Hunt . This was surprising since male chimpanzees hunt more than female person in general , and within this group they also calculate for the huge majority of all captures .
So why is this behavior more common in female than male ? The researcher speculate that it could be because Male tend to bemore opportunistic , for example grabbing scat fair game that another group member had give out to down . Given that females are smaller and weak than male , chasing after prey may also be a pretty ineffective path to trace , specially since females are often carrying child and thus not as agile . The researcher also point out toDiscovery Newsthat females also lean to be more innovative than males , moderate them to believe that the first peter - wielding primate were likely females .
The fact that no other chimp groups are known to hire in this demeanor is also exceedingly interesting . The researchersproposethis may have something to do with the limited provision of craniate prey in the area , which could have encouraged them to become more inventive in order of magnitude to suffer their nutritional want .
[ ViaRoyal Society Open Science , Iowa State University , New ScientistandDiscovery News ]
