122
camp, the chimps fled from her,
but they then began to forget she
was there.
Goodall sat for many hours
observing the chimps, keeping her
distance and quietly making field
notes. One morning in November
1961, she noticed a chimpanzee she
called David Greybeard sitting over
a termite mound. He was poking
blades of grass into the mound,
pulling them out, and then putting
them into his mouth. She watched
for some time before the chimp
moved off. On reaching the spot
where the chimp had been sitting,
Goodall saw discarded grass stems
lying on the ground. Picking one up
and poking it into the mound, she
found that the agitated termites bit
onto the stem. She realized the
chimp had been “fishing” for
termites with the grass stems, and
transferring them into his mouth.
From talks with Leakey, Goodall
knew this was a major discovery.
She also saw chimps modifying thin
twigs by stripping them of leavesand then using them in termite
mounds; the chimps were not only
using tools but making them.Chimp technology
Goodall went on to witness nine
different tools being used by
chimps in the Gombe community.
At the time, scientists questioned
Goodall’s methods and ridiculed
her for giving the chimps namesUSING ANIMAL MODELS TO UNDERSTAND HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Jane Goodall working, notebook in
hand, at Gombe National Park in 2006.
The pioneering primatologist continues
her lifelong commitment to protect
endangered chimpanzees.instead of numbers, suggesting
that her fieldwork was less than
rigorous. Since then, however, many
other studies around the world have
corroborated her findings: chimps in
the Congo have been observed
stripping twigs to use in termite
mounds; chimps in Gabon have
been seen heading into the forest
with a five-piece “toolkit” that
included a heavy stick for opening
bee hives and pieces of bark for
scooping up the honey. In Senegal,
hunting parties of chimps have been
observed traveling with sticks that
they chew to a sharp point and use
like spears to kill bush babies.More alike than different
Ethologists take behaviors studied
across several species to formulate
generalizations that apply to manyI viewed my
fellow man not
as a fallen angel,
but as a risen ape.
Desmond Morris
British ZoologistUS_118-125_Using_animal_models_to_understand_human_behaviour.indd 122 12/11/18 6:24 PM