More Female Chimps Hunt with Tools Than Males

Female chimps may be the real tool users among their kin. Scientists have found that female chimps are more likely to use tools when hunting.

In 2007, scientists first reported savanna chimps using tools to hunt prey. While this was significant, though, the fact that female ones were the ones predominantly using this technique was fascinating. However, this point was dismissed due to the small sample size-until now.

In the following years, the researchers recorded more than 300 tool-assisted hunts. The research supports the initial findings that female chimps hunt with tools more than males.

Generally, adult male chimps are the main hunters and capture prey by hand. However, the researchers watched both male and female chimps using tools while hunting. However, more than off of these tool hunts were by females.

"It's just another example of diversity in chimp behavior that we keep finding the longer we study wild chimps," said Jill Pruetz, one of the researchers, in a news release. "It is more the exception than the rule that you'll find some sort of different behavior, even though we've studied chimps extensively."

Chimps used a spear-like tool to jab at bush babies hiding in tree cavities. The explanation for this particular sex difference in tool use could be due to the fact that male chimps are more opportunistic.

"What would often happen is the male would be in the vicinity of another chimp hunting with a tool, often a female, and the bush baby was able to escape the female and the male grabbed the bush baby as it fled," said Pruetz.

The findings reveal a bit more about the hunting practices of savanna chimps at Fongoli, which is the only non-human population to consistently hunt prey with tools. This may be because of social tolerance that doesn't exist at other chimp sites.

The findings are published in the Royal Society Open Science.

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