Question

1. List all the ways chimpanzees use tools in the film Among the Wild Chimpanzees. Thinking forward to our next topic of paleoanthropology, what might we expect of early hominins (ancestors and bipedal relatives of us humans) that split from a common ancestor with chimpanzees?

2. Before The Tiger King dropped on Netflix, there were ape smugglers wreaking havoc on populations of orangutans, chimpanzees, and bonobos. What are the other threats to these animals mentioned in the New York Times article on ape trafficking ? What do buyers use these apes for? How are the individual apes harmed?

Answer 1

Some of the common tools used by chimpanzees are as follows –

a) Using leaves as sponges for soaking water and hence drinking it

b) Using sticks for catching termites. Chimapnzese also use intelligence while using stick for instance they fray the ends of the stick which allows catching of a greater number of termites

c) Use rocks as weapons

d) Use rock for cracking open gourds to eat the fruit inside

e) Using gourds as balls for playing

Ape is a common ancestor to chimpanzees and hence is a connecting link between human and chimpanzees.

The apes are smuggled for food purpose (as a part of tradition). Apart from smuggling destruction of habitat is also a factor