Re: opening oysters with stone tools?

From: Rich Travsky (_at_hotmMOVEail.com)
Date: 03/28/05 

Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 22:48:55 -0700

Marc Verhaegen wrote:
>
> Yes, Travsky, there are now also examples of capuchin tool use in dry
> forests, yes. What do we have now? Tool use: Capuchins: mangrove & dry
> forests. Orangs: wet forests. Chimps: wet & dry forests. Humans: everywhere.
> Sea otters: littoral. Does this detracts from our TREE paper IYO?

Since water is not needed, it doesn't support it. oki doki?

>
> "Rich Travsky" <" traRvEsky"@hotmMOVEail.com> wrote in message
> news:42223A58.E1FDF95C@hotmMOVEail.com...
> > Marc Verhaegen wrote:
> >>
> >> "Rich Travsky" <" traRvEsky"@hotmMOVEail.com> wrote in message
> >> news:421EADEE.FA91445C@hotmMOVEail.com...
> >> > Marc Verhaegen wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> "r norman" <rsn_@_comcast.net> wrote in message
> >> >> news:4smn11d5r84o2rf8dihf6rhfighfv6ekpr@4ax.com...
> >> >>
> >> >> >>Thanks for the answers, but could somebody tell me whether you can
> >> >> >>use
> >> >> >>stone tools (esp.Oldowan, Acheulian) to open oysters (apart from
> >> >> >>hammering)?
> >> >>
> >> >> > Are fresh oysters available in Belgium? You can buy them at our
> >> >> > (USA)
> >> >> > supermarkets, even those in Michigan -- far from the ocean. Buy a
> >> >> > dozen
> >> >> > and try to open them! I have real difficulty even with an
> >> >> > "official"
> >> >> > oyster knife. I can't imagine flint being made thin enough to get
> >> >> > into
> >> >> > even a small gap in the shell. Obsidian is far too brittle. But
> >> >> > then
> >> >> > I
> >> >> > have virtually no experience shucking clams or oysters and
> >> >> > absolutely
> >> >> > none
> >> >> > in making or using stone tools.
> >> >>
> >> >> With an oyster knife it isn't difficult. Yes, stone tools might be not
> >> >> thin
> >> >> enough & too brittle. Could a pointed stone do? I always wonder how
> >> >> little
> >> >> monkeys like capuchins do it.
> >> >
> >> > How?
> >> >
> >> > From
> >> >
> >> > http://canis.tamu.edu/wfscCourses/Concepts/Task1JA.html
> >> > ANNOTATED REFERENCE LIST: TOOL USE
> >> > J. M. Aguiar, STEELSHARD@TAMU.EDU
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Excerpts
> >> >
> >> > Anderson, J. R. 1990. Use of objects as hammers to open nuts by
> >> > capuchin
> >> > monkeys (Cebus apella). Folia Primatologica 54: 138-145.
> >> >
> >> > Keywords: capuchins, feeding, hammers, individual innovation
> >> >
> >> > A splendid, exciting paper to read: Anderson describes one captive
> >> > family
> >> > of capuchins using stone tools to break open a variety of nuts in an
> >> > experimental context. In addition to presenting data on the typical
> >> > tool
> >> > use devised by the family, Anderson also describes how Casp, a young
> >> > capuchin female, learns the technique in a cultural context-and how, in
> >> > a
> >> > surprise move, she invents a new technique that her family quickly
> >> > learns
> >> > from her. I've never cheered at a scientific paper before, but Casp
> >> > reminds us of the vital role that individual innovation plays in
> >> > technological evolution.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Fernandes, M. E. B. 1991. Tool use and predation of oysters
> >> > (Crassostrea
> >> > rhizophorae) by the tufted capuchin, Cebus apella apella, in
> >> > brackish-water
> >> > mangrove swamp. Primates 32(4): 529-531.
> >> >
> >> > Keywords: capuchin, oysters, feeding, hammer, mangrove, adaptive
> >> > benefit
> >> >
> >> > Herein the description of a tufted capuchin perched on a mangrove root,
> >> > hammering open oysters with a broken-off section of the oyster colony
> >> > itself. Although this account only deals with a single observation,
> >> > Fernandes suggests that this behavior-essentially an aquatic version of
> >> > nut-cracking-is a natural result of the capuchin's adaptability to a
> >> > wide
> >> > range of habitats. This is especially important in a mangrove swamp, or
> >> > mangal, a harsh environment which only a few vertebrates are capable of
> >> > exploiting. Under such conditions the ability to use tools is a vital
> >> > advantage, and the capuchin's flexibility-including its ability to use
> >> > a
> >> > part of the oyster colony itself as the hammer, since the mangal has no
> >> > stones-may explain why, out of the primates of the region, the capuchin
> >> > is
> >> > the mangal's only permanent resident. What clearer example could be
> >> > found
> >> > of the adaptive benefit of tool use?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Visalberghi, E. 1990. Tool use in Cebus. Folia Primatologica 54:
> >> > 146-154.
> >> >
> >> > Keywords: capuchins, pounding, cognition
> >> >
> >> > An extensive review of recorded instances of tool use in capuchin
> >> > monkeys
> >> > dating back at least to 1794 and Charles Darwin's literary grandfather
> >> > Erasmus Darwin. While Visalberghi's review is exhaustive, she
> >> > consistently
> >> > interprets capuchin tool use with a rather pessimistic view towards
> >> > their
> >> > mental capacities, especially as far as their ability to grasp the
> >> > connections between tool, target, and the correct motions that
> >> > profitably
> >> > link the two. Visalberghi cites other papers in this survey, such as
> >> > Anderson (1990), but seems to draw very different conclusions than I.
> >> > She
> >> > is especially critical of the repeated errors and apparently haphazard
> >> > pounding behavior some sources report for capuchin tool use, and yet I
> >> > can't help but wonder-how many humans hit snack machines?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Westergaard, G. C., J. A. Greene, M. A. Babitz, and S. J. Suomi. 1995.
> >> > Pestle use and modification by tufted capuchins (Cebus apella).
> >> > International Journal of Primatology 16(4): 643-651.
> >> >
> >> > Keywords: capuchins, feeding, mortar and pestle
> >> >
> >> > Certainly the most rigorous (and rigorously reported) experiments on
> >> > tool
> >> > use I've read so far. Westergaard is strong on experimentation and has
> >> > provided excellent data on capuchins' tool use in controlled laboratory
> >> > conditions. While I have recurring problems with the ultimate validity
> >> > of
> >> > any broad conclusions not drawn from capuchins in their natural
> >> > habitat,
> >> > this is still a fascinating addition to their range of tool use
> >> > behaviors.
> >> > Their use of nominal mortar-and-pestle tools recalls not only the
> >> > palm-pounding of chimpanzees of Sugiyama (1994) but also the actual
> >> > mortar-and-pestle use by chimpanzees asserted by one of the Portuguese
> >> > adventurers in Sept and Brooks (1994). The authors also tried something
> >> > that I have yet to see in any other tool-use paper: they tested their
> >> > own
> >> > bare hands and nominal tools on the same sugarcane they gave their
> >> > capuchins!
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > (this next reference appears to have some missing bits on the web page)
> >> >
> >> > and S. J. Suomi. 1994. The use and modification of bone tools by
> >> > capuchin
> >> > monkeys. Current Anthropology 35(1): 75-77.
> >> >
> >> > Keywords: capuchins, bone tools, tool modification chisels, hammers
> >> >
> >> > Another intriguing report of innovative tool use by capuchin monkeys in
> >> > an
> >> > experimental setting. This report presents several firsts seen in
> >> > animal
> >> > tool users: the first use of bone tools, the first modification of bone
> >> > tools, and-in my view the most important-the first use of two tools in
> >> > a
> >> > concerted fashion, by striking one fragment of bone against another
> >> > held
> >> > to the target, which the authors compare to "chisels and hammers."
> >> > Unlike
> >> > the consecutive but separate use of tools by chimpanzees in Sugiyama
> >> > (1994)
> >> > above (frond-hammer and then fiber-sponge), here at least one capuchin
> >> > has
> >> > combined two perfectly good tools into a tool construct, far surpassing
> >> > my
> >> > own expectations of what these primates are capable of. Really amazing!
> >> > As
> >> > a general point, I've been skeptical of the broader implications of
> >> > these
> >> > controlled-environment studies-just because a flexible mind discovers a
> >> > new
> >> > approach in captivity doesn't mean it occurs as an individual or
> >> > cultural
> >> > behavior in the wild. But the authors turn the point around, by
> >> > suggesting
> >> > that tool use observed in captivity can put researchers on the alert
> >> > for
> >> > similar uses in the wild.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Appears to be little more than pounding...
> >>
> >> Yes, with other oysters. They seem to need a lot of power. Amazing for
> >> such
> >> small animals. It probably takes a lot of time before they can open an
> >> oyster. Thanks for the list.
> >
> > http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0401/resources_geo2.html
> > ...
> > The monkeys, brown capuchins (Cebus apella), tool around in a remote dry
> > forest in northeastern Brazil. After laying tough-shelled palm nuts on
> > sandstone slabs, the monkeys stand upsometimes using their tails for
> > supportraise rocks perhaps half their own weight head high, then slam
> > the nuts. Not content with any old hammer, the monkeys will haul a
> > favorite rock to the "anvil" site, says photographer Pete Oxford. They
> > also place nuts in small pits from previous hammering and sniff them
> > between strikes to see if the kernel is exposed yet. Older capuchins are
> > the best nut crackers, but young ones also try their hand.
> >
> > "These monkeys are acting in ways we once thought only apes did," says
> > primatologist Dorothy Fragaszy of the University of Georgia, who plans to
> > study the monkeys' tool use in detail.
> >
> > And since capuchins are only distantly related to apes, she says, their
> > ability must have evolved independently.
> >
> > "Their Schwarzenegger dead lift is amazing to see," says Charles Munn, a
> > zoologist with Tropical Nature (a nonprofit ecotourism group) who first
> > learned of the hammer wielders from locals. "But it's no surprise the
> > monkeys have to work hard to get food in such a marginal, scrubby
> > habitat."
> >
> > Small pic is at
> >
> > http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0401/images/hm_smarts_pic2.jpg
> >
> > A stone tool kit does not appear to be needed for a littoral lifestyle and
> > does not appear to provide motivation for it.
> >
> > Gona, 2.5 mya, OTOH...

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Isnt Water Like Zero Gravity?
    ... > From the not so long ago NatGeo bit on tool using capuchins. ... > The monkeys, brown capuchins, tool around in a remote dry ... After laying tough-shelled palm nuts on ... > became bipedal by hauling huge rocks. ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: Isnt Water Like Zero Gravity?
    ... >> From the not so long ago NatGeo bit on tool using capuchins. ... >> The monkeys, brown capuchins, tool around in a remote dry ... After laying tough-shelled palm nuts on ... >> became bipedal by hauling huge rocks. ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: opening oysters with stone tools?
    ... >> part of the oyster colony itself as the hammer, ... >> An extensive review of recorded instances of tool use in capuchin monkeys ... >> provided excellent data on capuchins' tool use in controlled laboratory ... After laying tough-shelled palm nuts on ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • De unde vine kapitalismul !
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