Wild chimps ape their mothers in spearing animals

WILD chimpanzees have been observed making and using “spears” to hunt small animals, it was revealed last night.

Scientists made the discovery in Fongoli, Senegal, where they recorded 22 instances of chimps jabbing sticks into tree cavities or hollow branches to flush out prey. The apes used enough force to injure the animals they were after.

In one case, a chimpanzee actually impaled a bushbaby on a stick and extracted it from a tree.

Although hunting is normally an adult male activity among chimpanzees, females appeared to dominate spear hunting. Only one adult male was observed taking part. The others were either adult and young females, or young males.

The behaviour of the chimps supports a theory that females may have played an important role in the development of early human tool technology, said the scientists.

Team leader, Dr Jill Pruetz, assistant professor of anthropology at Iowa State University in Ames, US, said: “It’s classic in primates that when there is a new innovation, particularly in terms of tool use, the younger generations pick it up very quickly. The last ones to pick it up are adults, mainly the males.

“This is because immatures learn from the ones they are most affiliated with — their mothers.”