Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Chimpanzee Tool Use in Dental Grooming

  • Letter
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

TOOL use by animals is characteristically restricted to agonistic, exploratory, or self-maintenance contexts, and we have only one record of its use in social grooming1. Belle, a female chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) at the Delta Regional Primate Research Center, used sticks as aids in grooming the teeth of other individuals, and on one occasion she fashioned a stick tool by stripping a twig of its leaves. In 135 h of observation over 6 weeks, we recorded forty-five bouts of dental grooming: four of tool use (all social), twenty-three of social grooming, seven of attempted social grooming, and eleven of self grooming. Dental grooming occurred on 16 of the 27 observation days.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. van Lawick-Goodall, J., in Advances in the Study of Behavior (edit. by Lehrman, D. S., Hinde, R. A. and Shaw, E.), 3, 195 (Academic Press, New York and London, 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  2. van Lawick-Goodall, J., Anim. Behav. Mono., 1, 161 (1968).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Gallup, G. G., Science, 167, 86 (1970).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Watson, J. B., Psychol. Bull., 5, 169 (1908).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Yerkes, R. M., J. Soc. Psychol., 4, 3 (1933).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Miles, W. R., Proc. US Nat. Acad. Sci., 49, 840 (1963).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Goodall, J., Nature, 201, 1264 (1964).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Jones, C., and Sabater Pi, J., Nature, 223, 100 (1969).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Struhsaker, T. T., and Hunkeler, P., Folia Primatol, 15, 212 (1971).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Suzuki, A., Primates, 7, 481 (1966).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Kortlandt, A., and Kooij, M., Symp. Zool Soc. Lond., 10, 61 (1963).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Dohl, J., Naturwiss. Medizin, 7, 43 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Rumbaugh, D. M., in The Chimpanzee (edit. by Bourne, G. H.), 4, 19 (Karger, Basel, 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Menzel, E. W., Davenport, R. K., and Rogers, C. M., Folia Primatol, 12, 273 (1970).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, 94305

    W. C. MCGREW & CAROLINE E. G. TUTIN

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT

    CAROLINE E. G. TUTIN

Authors
  1. W. C. MCGREW
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. CAROLINE E. G. TUTIN
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

MCGREW, W., TUTIN, C. Chimpanzee Tool Use in Dental Grooming. Nature 241, 477–478 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/241477a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/241477a0

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation