Stone Age primates

• Autores: Erica Tennenhouse
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3163, 2018, págs. 40-43
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • A cashew is a tough nut to crack. You must carefully balance it on an anvil and bash it with a hammer, while avoiding contact with the caustic resin in its shell. This takes great skill. Yet bearded capuchin monkeys living in north-east Brazil take it in their stride. And their tool-wielding talents don't end there. They also dig for tubers and insects with rocks. Females sometimes even hurl them at males in what appears to be an unusual flirting tactic. We used to think that using tools was the preserve of our hominin linage and one of the remarkable talents that made us human. Their discoveries usher in the new discipline of primate archaeology, which has the potential to give novel insights not just about these species but also about our distant ancestors. Before, it was assumed that we alone possessed an archaeological record containing material evidence of past behaviours