Chimps Build Toolkit To Extract Honey

Chimpanzees have always been known to be smart and resourceful - After all, they share 99% of our DNA. However, the discovery of an entire toolkit created by these ingenious animals to extract honey from beehives, has elevated their stature to a whole new level.

The discovery was made by two scientists who are observing chimps and their behaviour, at Loanga National Park on the coast of Gabon, Africa. It seems that the apes have a sweet tooth, which they satisfy by stealing honey from the thousands of beehives that populate the park.

However, as any bee keeper will tell you, extracting honey requires some tools and a lot of skill. The chimps seem to have figured out both, by creating a toolkit comprising of different extraction tools and figuring out two different strategies, based on the hive location.

If the hive is on a tree, the chimp hangs off a branch, and pulls out its first tool - a thick stick pounder to break open the beehive entrance. Then, it will use an enlarger to widen the honeybee compartments. Once the honey is visible, the smart animal will pull out a 'collector' (long strips of bark'), to scoop out the golden liquid.

If the beehive is located underground, the astute animal pulls out a different set of tools. First comes a thin perforator to look for the nests. Once that is located the chimp seeks out the honey chamber and digs around it - And then, using a collector, extracts the yummy honey. While this may sound pretty straightforward, it is very difficult and hazardous.

For one, they have to deal with angry bees, and then there is the challenge of digging at that perfect angle to get to the hive. Once they get the honey, they have to ensure that the soil doesn't fall all over it and spoil their treat.

This is not the first time chimps have been caught using tools to get food. They use modified fishing sticks (thin branches with leaves cut off) to probe for another treat - termites. They are also known to use 'hammers' to crack nuts (hand-crafted rocks) and 'spears' (a thin tree branch sharpened by teeth at one end) to kill bushbabies.

However, this is the first time that they have used a set of tools in sequence and the fact that can look and aim for underground beehives with such precision, has led scientists to believe that the apes know exactly what they are doing and how to go about it systematically, just like us - making them almost 99.9% human!

sources: scienceblogs.com, msnbc.om