Chimps with tool kits.

Chimpanzees living in the wild have been videotaped using "tool kits" consisting of sticks tailored to specific tasks. While other species, like crows and the great apes, have been observed using simple tools, chimps are apparently the first (besides humans) found to use different tools for different jobs. Researchers Crickette Sanz of Washington University in St. Louis, Dave Morgan of Cambridge University in England, and Steve Gulick of Wildland Security videotaped chimps in Africa's Congo Basin as the animals sought out a favorite delicacy--termites. The chimps used three distinct tools: a heavy puncturing stick, a lightweight perforating stick, and a flexible fishing stick. A chimp invading an underground termite nest would first use the heavy puncturing stick, pushing it into the ground with both hands and one foot, like a gardener digging with a spade. For above-ground nests, the chimps used the lighter stick to poke holes in the dirt. Once a termite mound had been invaded, the chimps gathered around the hole with their fishing sticks, which have one end crushed to make a sort of brush. Then, they dipped the sticks into the hole, pulled out the termites clinging to the brushy end, and slurped them up.