All articles tagged with #tool use
Australian researchers filmed bottlenose dolphins using seashells as fishing tools (shelling), with two adult females observed in 2025 and a calf mimicking the technique, suggesting the behavior may be more widespread and learnable across generations, though it is not always clear whether a meal is captured.
A female wolf in British Columbia was captured on trail cameras swimming to a buoy, dragging a fully submerged crab trap ashore and opening the bait cup to reach food—the three-minute clip, noted as unprecedented for wild canids, has sparked debate among experts about whether it constitutes tool use or a complex problem-solving event. The observation highlights wolves’ reliance on marine resources and may influence how researchers monitor coastal foraging, including camera placement and expectations for repeat behavior.
Two bottlenose dolphin populations—Shark Bay in the west and Great Sandy Marine Park in the east—have independently learned to shell fish by using empty sea-snail shells as traps, lifting them to drain prey. Queensland observations (2025) include a mother-calf sequence that may show vertical social learning, while earlier Shark Bay work documented rapid, socially mediated spread among associates. The geographic gap implies convergent invention rather than copying; more data are needed to confirm transmission routes and first-inventor moments.
Researchers off Hervey Bay, Australia filmed dolphins using empty seashells to trap fish, with a mother and calf showcasing the behavior. This is the first video evidence of shelling as a prey-catching tactic, suggesting potential maternal transmission and possibly independent emergence across populations, highlighting dolphins’ intelligence and prompting questions about the evolution of tool use.
Researchers in Queensland, Australia captured the first evidence of bottlenose dolphins using empty seashells to catch fish, a behavior called shelling. The footage shows dolphins herding fish into shells, lifting the shells to the surface, and shaking them to drain prey, with a calf imitating its mother, suggesting maternal social transmission. The findings extend the known range of shelling to the east coast and indicate sophisticated tool use and learning in dolphins, highlighting the need for further study.
Researchers off Hervey Bay, Queensland, captured the first east‑coast footage of bottlenose dolphins using seashells to catch fish—a hunting method called shelling—plus an adult female and calf observed together, suggesting maternal transmission. Recorded in October 2025 and published in Marine Mammal Science, the finding complements earlier evidence from Western Australia and shows cross‑regional tool use in dolphins.
3D motion capture shows no innate arm dominance during plain reaching or with added wrist weight; a lightweight stick strapped to the forearm reveals a dominant-hand gap, while writing with elbows eliminates it—demonstrating that handedness arises from lifelong tool-use practice and can be reshaped through targeted training, challenging the idea of fixed, biology-driven dominance.
Bumblebees solved a tool-use task by rolling a ball to reposition it under a ceiling-held artificial flower, with 75% success in the basic version and 23 of 30 in a more complex setup, showing flexible problem solving in miniature brains and challenging the view that insects act purely on instinct (study published in Science).
A new study in the Journal of Human Evolution reports that Neanderthals used rhinoceros teeth as hammers and anvils to shape stone and process materials. Wear patterns on fossil teeth from sites in Spain and France match experimental results using modern rhino teeth, suggesting deliberate, task-specific tooth selection rather than opportunistic use, and hinting at higher cognitive capabilities in Western Europe’s Middle Paleolithic.
New research shows Neanderthals in ancient France and Spain recycled rhinoceros molars into multipurpose tools used to shape stone, process hides, and manipulate plant fibers. Wear patterns on 281 fossilized rhino teeth, plus experiments using real rhino teeth, indicate these were functional tools, highlighting Neanderthals’ sophisticated technology and cognitive abilities.
Bruce, a kea missing his upper beak, becomes the dominant male in his Willowbank Wildlife Reserve group by pioneering a beak-jousting technique, winning all 36 of his 162 documented male-male interactions, and prompting researchers to highlight keas' problem-solving and the welfare implications of prosthetics for disabled animals.
An Austrian cow named Veronika learned to use a broom as a tool to scratch hard-to-reach areas, with researchers documenting 76 tool‑use instances across seven trial sessions. The finding challenges assumptions about cattle intelligence and suggests cows may be capable of innovative problem‑solving and tool use under stimulating conditions.
Ancient stone tools found in Kenya date back 3 million years, pushing back the origin of Oldowan technology and suggesting that multiple hominin species, including Paranthropus, used these tools for diverse food processing, which broadens our understanding of early human adaptation and dietary practices.
A 1.52 million-year-old fossil of Paranthropus boisei from Kenya reveals that this robust human ancestor had large, dexterous thumbs and foot structures supporting bipedal walking, indicating it could make and use simple tools, challenging previous assumptions that only Homo species used tools.
New fossils from Kenya reveal that Paranthropus boisei, previously thought to be a simple plant-eater, had human-like hands capable of gripping and a foot adapted for upright walking, challenging previous notions about its behavior and its relationship with early Homo species, and highlighting the complex, non-linear nature of human evolution.