National Geographic: Among the Wild Chimpanzees Page #5

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they just sit and wait it out

Long committed to observing

the chimps seven days a week

Jane ignored the rain

Searching for the lost Fifi

she saw something remarkable instead

the male Goliath performing

a spectacular display

Enthralled by the magnificent

"rain dance,"

Jane would later write:

"With a display of strength and vigor

such as this primitive man himself

might have challenged the elements."

Twenty minutes later the rain dance

was over as suddenly as it had begun

Among Goliath's audience Jane

spotted Flo and Flint

From her tall lookout

Fifi saw them too

Strong family ties

temporarily broken by the storm

were once again intact

The rainy season brings

the flight of fertile

winged termites as they leave

their nests to establish new colonies

For chimp and baboon alike

they are a tasty delicacy

But baboons can only capture

the termites outside the nest

as the swarms emerge and fly

When they have gone and worker termites

have resealed the nest

the baboons will move on

But the chimps not only know

termites are there

hidden below the surface,

they have learned how to get at them

In defense of their nest

the termites grip onto the grass

and with utmost care

the chimp gently draws them out

As a stem becomes bent

the chimp breaks off the end

to make it work more efficiently

Sometimes a leafy twig is selected

but first it must

be stripped of its leaves

In these actions

modifying natural objects

for a specific purpose -

the chimp is not only using

but actually making tools

It seems certain that

this is a learned behavior passed

from generation to generation

by watching and imitation

Flint does not yet know

how to fish for termites

but already he imitates

part of Flo's technique

Jane's proof that chimps

make and use tools would rock

the scientific world

"Tool using always used to be

considered a hallmark

of the human species

When Louis Leakey first heard

about tool using at Gombe

he got extremely excited and said

"Now we have to redefine man

redefine tool or

include chimpanzees with humans."

A chimpanzee brain will never

design a computer

nor even imagine a durable

tool chipped from stone

But his brain is more similar

to our own than is that of

any other living creature

And surely it was thus that

our distant human ancestors began

learning to master

the natural world

in the constant struggle

to survive

To a thirsty chimp

rainwater trapped in the hollow

of a tree is inviting

but not easily reached

Once again the chimps have learned to

solve a problem by fashioning a tool

Wadded leaves act as a sponge

Chewing makes them more absorbent

Using the sponge

the chimp can get as much as

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