By Victoria Gill Science
reporter, BBC News
10 January 2017
Researchers have used camera
traps to film tool-use that is unique to chimpanzees in Ivory Coast.
The footage revealed that the
clever primates habitually make special water-dipping sticks - chewing the end
of the stick to turn it into a soft, water-absorbing brush.
Primate researchers examined the
"dipping sticks" and concluded they were made specifically for
drinking.
Lead researcher Juan Lapuente,
from the Comoe
Chimpanzee Conservation Project, in Ivory Coast,
explained that using similar brush-tipped sticks to dip into bees' nests for
honey was common in chimpanzee populations across Africa.
"But the use of brush-tipped
sticks to dip for water is completely new and had never been described
before," he told BBC News.
"These chimps use especially
long brush tips that they make specifically for water - much longer than those
used for honey."
The researchers tested the
chimps' drinking sticks in an "absorption experiment", which showed
that the particularly long brush-tips provided an advantage.
"The longer the brush, the
more water they collect," said Mr Lapuente.
"This technology allows
Comoe chimpanzees to obtain water from extremely narrow and deep tree holes
that only they - and no other animal - can exploit, which [gives] them a superb
adaptive advantage to survive in this dry and unpredictable environment."
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