THE MANUFACTURE AND USE OF BAMBOO TOOLS BY MONKEYS - POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIAL CULTURE AMONG EAST-ASIAN HOMINIDS

This research examined the manufacture and use of bamboo tools by capu chin monkeys (Cebus apella). We presented groups of subjects with bamb oo, and apparatus that accommodated the use of probing and cutting too ls. Four monkeys manufactured probing tools by breaking bamboo strips, detaching shoots from larger branches, and removing leaves and stubs. A fifth subject used probing tools but did not modify them. In a seco nd experiment five capuchins manufactured bamboo cutting tools. A sixt h subject used cutting tools but did not modify them. These results de monstrate a simple bamboo-tool technology in capuchins. We hypothesize that east Asian Homo erectus could have used similar or more advanced manufacturing techniques to produce bamboo tools suitable for purpose s that included probing and cutting. (C) 1995 Academic Press Limited