Chimps using spears to go hunting

The landmark observation also supports the long-debated proposition that females8212;the main makers and users of spears among the Senegalese chimps8212;tend to be the innovators and creative problem solvers in primate culture.

Using their hands and teeth, the chimpanzees were repeatedly seen tearing the side branches off long straight sticks, peeling back the bark and sharpening one end, the researchers report in Thursday8217;s on-line issue of the journal Current Biology. Then, grasping the weapon in a 8220;power grip,8217;8217; they jabbed into tree-branch hollows where bush babies8212;small monkey-like mammals8212;sleep during the day. After stabbing their prey repeatedly, they removed the injured or dead animal and ate it.

8220;It was really alarming how forceful it was,8217;8217; said lead researcher Jill D. Pruetz of Iowa State University in Ames. 8220;It was kind of scary.8217;8217;

The new observations are 8220;stunning,8217;8217; said Craig Stanford, a primatologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Southern California. 8220;Really fashioning a weapon to get food 8212; I8217;d say that8217;s a first for any non-human animal.8217;8217;

Scientists have documented tool use among chimpanzees for several decades, but the tools have been simple and used to extract food rather than to kill for it.

Some chimpanzees slide thin sticks or leaf blades into termite mounds, for example, to fish for the tasty, crawling morsels. Others crumple leaves and use them like sponges to sop drinking water from tree hollows.