NUMIBE: Chimpanzees have often been cited as the closest cousins to human beings. Now, it seems, that chimpanzees might be closer than ever when it comes to behavior.
A new research article published in the Royal Society Open Science journal, points out that a group of chimpanzees have been observed crafting incredibly sharp spears for which they can stab and kill their prey. Images from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey of prehistoric apes fashioning weapons for the first time and using them to hunt and for warfare immediately come to mind. In fact, the article suggests that the origin of the chimpanzees using spears may have started with the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees.
The lead author of the article, Jill Pruetz, an Anthropology Professor at Iowa State University, described how the chimpanzees make their deadly weapons.
