Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-5f56664f6-kch4j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-07T19:06:34.339Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - Orangutan tool use and the evolution of technology

from Part III - Ecology and culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

By
Ellen J. M. Meulman  and
Carel P. van Schaik
Edited by
Crickette M. Sanz ,
Josep Call  and
Christophe Boesch
Ellen J. M. Meulman
Affiliation:
Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich
Carel P. van Schaik
Affiliation:
Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich
Crickette M. Sanz
Affiliation:
Washington University, St Louis
Josep Call
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionäre Anthropologie, Germany
Christophe Boesch
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionäre Anthropologie, Germany
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Commonly referred to as a hallmark of human evolution, tool use is often considered a complex skill. Paradoxically, however, tool use seems to be widespread in the animal kingdom and may consist of fairly simple behavioral actions. In this chapter we try to relate these somewhat contradictory views to the relatively rare occurrence of habitual and complex tool use in wild orangutans, especially when compared to wild chimpanzees. We propose that, in addition to the previously suggested factors (i.e., extractive foraging, social tolerance and intelligence), terrestriality may have been instrumental in the evolution of especially habitual (sensu McGrew & Marchant, 1997) and complex tool use, thus explaining the “orangutan tool paradox.” Our preliminary comparison of eight orangutan and ten chimpanzee study populations (descriptively, via a principal component analysis [PCA], and by testing predictions related to the four factors) does indeed point in this direction.

Defining tool use

Although tool use has been defined in various ways (see Shumaker et al., 2011 for a detailed discussion), we choose to follow the definition of Parker and Gibson (1977):

Tool use is the manipulation of an object (the tool), not part of the actor’s anatomical equipment and not attached to a substrate, to change the position, action, or condition of another object, either directly through the action of the tool on the object or of the object on the tool, or through action at a distance as in aimed throwing.

(Modified from Parker & Gibson, 1977; Sanz & Morgan, 2007)
Type
Chapter
Information
Tool Use in Animals
Cognition and Ecology
 , pp. 176 - 202
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Arora, N., Nater, A., van Schaik, C. P., et al. (2010). Effects of Pleistocene glaciations and rivers on the population structure of Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 107(50), 21376–21381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, B. B. (1980). Animal Tool Behavior: The Use and Manufacture of Tools by Animals. New York: Garland STPM Publishers.Google Scholar
Bentley-Condit, V. K. & Smith, E. O. (2010). Animal tool use: current definitions and an updated comprehensive catalog. Behaviour, 147(2), 185–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boesch, C. & Boesch, H. (1990). Tool use and tool making in wild chimpanzees. Folia Primatologica, 54, 86–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boesch-Achermann, H. & Boesch, C. (1994). Hominization in the rainforest: the chimpanzee’s piece of the puzzle. Evolutionary Anthropology, 3(1), 9–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burkart, J. M., Hrdy, S. B. & van Schaik, C. P. (2009). Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology, 18(5), 175–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrne, R. W. (1995). The Thinking Ape: Evolutionary Origins of Intelligence. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coussi-Korbel, S. & Fragaszy, D. (1995). On the relation between social dynamics and social learning. Animal Behaviour, 50, 1441–1553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deaner, R. O., Isler, K., Burkart, J., et al. (2007). Overall brain size, and not encephalization quotient, best predicts cognitive ability across non-human primates. Brain Behavior and Evolution, 70(2), 115–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deblauwe, I. (2009). Temporal variation in insect-eating by chimpanzees and gorillas in Southeast Cameroon: extension of niche differentiation. International Journal of Primatology, 30(2), 229–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deblauwe, I. & Janssens, G. P. J. (2008). New insights in insect prey choice by chimpanzees and gorillas in southeast Cameroon: the role of nutritional value. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 135(1), 42–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foley, R. & Gamble, C. (2009). The ecology of social transitions in human evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 364(1533), 3267–3279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fox, E. A. & Bin’Muhammad, I. (2002). Brief communication: new tool use by wild Sumatran orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus abelii). American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 119(2), 186–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fragaszy, D. M. & Perry, S. (2003). The Biology of Traditions: Models and Evidence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groves, C. P. (2001). Primate Taxonomy. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Gumert, M. D., Kluck, M. & Malaivijitnond, S. (2009). The physical characteristics and usage patterns of stone axe and pounding hammers used by long-tailed macaques in the Andaman Sea region of Thailand. American Journal of Primatology, 71(7), 594–608.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haidle, M. N. (2010). Working-memory capacity and the evolution of modern cognitive potential implications from animal and early human tool use. Current Anthropology, 51, S149–S166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansell, M. & Ruxton, G. D. (2008). Setting tool use within the context of animal construction behaviour. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 23(2), 73–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huang, C. T. & Charman, T. (2005). Gradations of emulation learning in infants’ imitation of actions on objects. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 92(3), 276–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Humle, T. & Matsuzawa, T. (2009). Laterality in hand use across four tool-use behaviors among the wild chimpanzees of Bossou, Guinea, West Africa. American Journal of Primatology, 71(1), 40–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Isler, K., Kirk, E. C., Miller, J. M. A., et al. (2008). Endocranial volumes of primate species: scaling analyses using a comprehensive and reliable data set. Journal of Human Evolution, 55(6), 967–978.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kelley, J. (2002). The hominoid radiation in Asia. In Hartwig, W. C. (ed.) The Primate Fossil Record (pp. 369–384). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Krützen, M., Willems, E. P. & van Schaik, C. P. (2011). Culture and geographic variation in orangutan behavior. Current Biology, 21(21), 1808–1812.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leca, J. B., Gunst, N. & Huffman, M. A. (2007). Japanese macaque cultures: inter- and intra-troop behavioural variability of stone handling patterns across 10 troops. Behaviour, 144, 251–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lonsdorf, E. V., Ross, S. R., Linick, S. A., et al. (2009). An experimental, comparative investigation of tool use in chimpanzees and gorillas. Animal Behaviour, 77(5), 1119–1126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mannu, M. & Ottoni, E. B. (2009). The enhanced tool-kit of two groups of wild bearded capuchin monkeys in the Caatinga: tool making, associative use, and secondary tools. American Journal of Primatology, 71(3), 242–251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marshall, A. J., Ancrenaz, M., Brearley, F. Q., et al. (2009). The effects of forest phenology and floristics on populations of Bornean and Sumatran orangutans: are Sumatran forests better orangutan habitat than Bornean forests? In Wich, S. A., Utami Atmoko, S. S., Setia, T. Mitra & van Schaik, C. P. (eds.) Orangutans: Geographic Variation in Behavioral Ecology and Conservation (pp. 97–117). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McGrew, W. C. (1992). Tool-use by free-ranging chimpanzees: the extent of diversity. Journal of Zoology, 228(4), 689–694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrew, W. C. (2004a). The Cultured Chimpanzee: Reflections on Cultural Primatology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrew, W. C. (2004b). Primatology: advanced ape technology. Current Biology, 14(24), R1046–R1047.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGrew, W. C. (2010). In search of the last common ancestor: new findings on wild chimpanzees. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 365(1556), 3267–3276.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGrew, W. C. & Marchant, L. F. (1997). Using the tools at hand: manual laterality and elementary technology in Cebus spp. and Pan spp. International Journal of Primatology, 18(5), 787–810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrew, W. C., Marchant, L. F., Beuerlein, M. M., et al. (2007). Prospects for bonobo insectivory: Lui Kotal, Democratic Republic of Congo. International Journal of Primatology, 28(6), 1237–1252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meulman, E. J. M., Sanz, C. M., Visalberghi, E., et al. (2012). The role of terrestriality in promoting primate technology. Evolutionary Anthropology.CrossRef
Morrogh-Bernard, H. C., Husson, S. J., Knott, C. D., et al. (2009). Orangutan activity budgets and diet: a comparison between species, populations and habitats. In Wich, S. A., Utami Atmoko, S. S., Setia, T. Mitra & van Schaik, C. P. (eds.) Orangutans: Geographic Variation in Behavioral Ecology and Conservation (pp. 97–117). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ottoni, E. B. & Izar, P. (2008). Capuchin monkey tool use: overview and implications. Evolutionary Anthropology, 17(4), 171–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panger, M. (2007). Tool use and cognition in primates. In Campbell, C., Bearder, S., Fuentes, A., et al. (eds.) Primates in Perspective (pp. 665–677). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Parker, S. T. & Gibson, K. R. (1977). Object manipulation, tool use and sensorimotor intelligence as feeding adaptations in Cebus monkeys and great apes. Journal of Human Evolution, 6(7), 623–641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plummer, T. (2004). Flaked stones and old bones: biological and cultural evolution at the dawn of technology. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 39, 118–164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pradhan, G. R., Tennie, C. & van Schaik, C. P. (2012). Social organization and the evolution of cumulative technology in apes and hominins. Jounal of Human Evolution.CrossRef
Raaum, R. L., Sterner, K. N., Noviello, C. M., et al. (2005). Catarrhine primate divergence dates estimated from complete mitochondrial genomes: concordance with fossil and nuclear DNA evidence. Journal of Human Evolution, 48(3), 237–257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reader, S. M. & Laland, K. N. (2002). Social intelligence, innovation, and enhanced brain size in primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 99(7), 4436–4441.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reader, S. M., Hager, Y. & Laland, K. N. (2011). The evolution of primate general and cultural intelligence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 366(1567), 1017–1027.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Russon, A. E., van Schaik, C. P., Kuncoro, P., et al. (2009). Innovation and intelligence in orangutans. In Wich, S. A., Utami Atmoko, S. S., Setia, T. Mitra & van Schaik, C. P. (eds.) Orangutans: Geographic Variation in Behavioral Ecology and Conservation (pp. 279–298). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sanz, C. M. & Morgan, D. B. (2007). Chimpanzee tool technology in the Goualougo Triangle, Republic of Congo. Journal of Human Evolution, 52(4), 420–433.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanz, C. M. & Morgan, D. B. (2009). Flexible and persistent tool-using strategies in honey-gathering by wild chimpanzees. International Journal of Primatology, 30(3), 411–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanz, C. M. & Morgan, D. B. (2010). The complexity of chimpanzee tool-use behaviors. In Lonsdorf, E. V., Ross, S. R. & Matsuzawa, T. (eds.) The Mind of the Chimpanzee: Ecological and Experimental Perspectives (pp. 127–140). Chicago, IL and London: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sanz, C. M., Schoning, C. & Morgan, D. B. (2010). Chimpanzees prey on army ants with specialized tool set. American Journal of Primatology, 72(1), 17–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shumaker, R. W., Walkup, K. R. & Beck, B. B. (2011). Animal Tool Behavior: The Use and Manufacture of Tools by Animals. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Sitompul, A. F. I. (1995). Penggunaan alat pada orangutan Sumatra (Pongo pygmaeus abelii, Lesson 1827) dalam memanfaatkan sumber pakan serangga sosial di Suaq Balimbing, Kluet, Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser. Bachelor (S1), Universitas Indonesia.
Spagnoletti, N., Izar, P. & Visalberghi, E. (2009). Tool use and terrestriality in wild bearded capuchin monkey (Cebus libidinosus). Folia Primatologica, 80(2), 142.Google Scholar
Stumpf, R. M. (2007). Chimpanzees and bonobos: diversity within and between species. In Campbell, C. B., Fuentes, A., MacKinnon, K. C., Panger, M. & Bearder, S. (eds.) Primates in Perspective (pp. 321–344). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, A. B. & van Schaik, C. P. (2007). Variation in brain size and ecology in Pongo. Journal of Human Evolution, 52(1), 59–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Utami-Atmoko, S. S., Singleton, I., van Noordwijk, M. A., et al. (2009). Male–male relationships in orangutans. In Wich, S. A., Utami Atmoko, S. S., Setia, T. Mitra & van Schaik, C. P. (eds.) Orangutans: Geographic Variation in Behavioral Ecology and Conservation (pp. 225–233). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
van Noordwijk, M. A., Sauren, S. E. B., Nuzuar, , et al. (2009). Development of independence. Sumatran and Bornean orangutans compared. In Wich, S. A., Utami Atmoko, S. S., Setia, T. Mitra & van Schaik, C. P. (eds.) Orangutans: Geographic Variation in Behavioral Ecology and Conservation (pp. 189–203). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
van Schaik, C. P. (1999). The socioecology of fission-fusion sociality in Sumatran orangutans. Primates, 40, 73–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Schaik, C. P. (2004). Among Orangutans: Red Apes and the Rise of Human Culture. Cambridge, MA and London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
van Schaik, C. P. (2006). Why are some animals so smart? Scientific American, 294(4), 64–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Schaik, C. P. & Knott, C. D. (2001). Geographic variation in tool use on Neesia fruits in orangutans. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 114(4), 331–342.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Schaik, C. P., Fox, E. A. & Sitompul, A. E. (1996). Manufacture and use of tools in wild Sumatran orangutans: implications for human evolution. Naturwissenschaften, 83, 186–188.Google ScholarPubMed
van Schaik, C. P., Deaner, R. O. & Merrill, M. Y. (1999). The conditions for tool use in primates: implications for the evolution of material culture. Journal of Human Evolution, 36(6), 719–741.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Schaik, C. P., Ancrenaz, M., Borgen, G., et al. (2003a). Orangutan cultures and the evolution of material culture. Science, 299(5603), 102–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Schaik, C. P., Fox, E. A. & Fechtman, L. T. (2003b). Individual variation in the rate of use of tree-hole tools among wild orang-utans: implications for hominin evolution. Journal of Human Evolution, 44(1), 11–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Schaik, C. P., Fragaszy, D. M. & Perry, S. (2003c). Local Traditions in Orangutans and Chimpanzees: Social Learning and Social Tolerance – the Biology of Traditions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
van Schaik, C. P., van Noordwijk, M. A. & Wich, S. A. (2006). Innovation in wild Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii). Behaviour, 143, 839–876.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Schaik, C. P., Ancrenaz, M., Djojoasmoro, R., et al. (2009). Orangutan cultures revisited. In Wich, S. A., Utami Atmoko, S. S., Setia, T. Mitra & van Schaik, C. P. (eds.) Orangutans: Geographic Variation in Behavioral Ecology and Conservation (pp. 299–309). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Visalberghi, E. (2009). Wild capuchin monkeys use tools: why and how it challenges our ideas about tool use in human evolution. Folia Primatologica, 80(2), 108.Google Scholar
Visalberghi, E., Fragaszy, D. M., Izar, P., et al. (2005). Terrestriality and tool use. Science (Letters), 308(5724), 951–952.Google ScholarPubMed
Visalberghi, E., Addessi, E., Truppa, V., et al. (2009). Selection of effective stone tools by wild bearded capuchin monkeys. Current Biology, 19(3), 213–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warren, K. S., Verschoor, E. J., Langenhuijzen, S., et al. (2001). Speciation and intrasubspecific variation of Bornean orangutans, Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 18(4), 472–480.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whiten, A., Goodall, J., McGrew, W. C., et al. (1999). Cultures in chimpanzees. Nature, 399, 682–685.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whiten, A., Goodall, J., McGrew, W. C., et al. (2001). Charting cultural variation in chimpanzees. Behaviour, 138(11/12), 1481–1516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whiten, A., Schick, K. & Toth, N. (2009). The evolution and cultural transmission of percussive technology: integrating evidence from palaeoanthropology and primatology. Journal of Human Evolution, 57(4), 420–435.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wich, S. A., Utami-Atmoko, S. S., Mitra-Setia, T., et al. (2009). Orangutans: Geographic Variation in Behavioral Ecology and Conservation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Xu, X. F. & Arnason, U. (1996). The mitochondrial DNA molecule of Sumatran orangutan and a molecular proposal for two (Bornean and Sumatran) species of orangutan. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 43(5), 431–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×