Chimpanzees that travel farther in search of food are more likely to use tools than are their less-travelled counterparts.

Credit: Cat Hobaiter

Thibaud Gruber and his colleagues at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland studied wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii; pictured) in Uganda, using six years of experimental data and seven years of observations. The researchers drilled small holes in logs and filled them with honey, which the chimps could access only using a tool such as a leaf sponge (pictured). Chimps were more likely to use tools to get honey when they had recently foraged over longer distances, compared to those that travelled less. Published data on wild chimps also revealed that communities that travel more use a larger repertoire of feeding tools.

Moving long distances may have helped to drive the development of early human technology, the authors say.

eLife http://doi.org/bm6c (2016)