![]() Despite not being dependent on tool obtained resources in the wild 13, 14, 15, in captivity they have proven to be highly capable of innovating solutions to physical problems using tools 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and, as a recent discovery has shown, some wild individuals use sequential sets of tools in sophisticated ways (involving concurrent actions, holding tool and target concurrently) 22. Goffin's cockatoos are ideal non-primate models to study the origins of complex tool innovations. However according to the recent tooling framework proposed by Fragaszy and Mangalam 12, the ungripped anvil would not be a tool per se (requires dynamic handling not a static placement). Thus, anvil and hammer, following the most widespread terminology 1, can be described as two tools whose functions are combined in a composite tool use. ![]() Normally this is done by carrying a hammer stone to the place where a heavy anvil awaits, but at Bossou, chimpanzees often search for and place the anvil stone themselves 4. An anvil and a hammer-stone, are used to crack nuts to gain access to the kernel 9, 10, 11. The perhaps most studied case of composite tool use in nonhuman primates is nut cracking in chimpanzees of Bossou, Guinea 9, 10. In animals, however, composite tool use seems to be one of the least common types of tool use recorded so far 8. A reason for this could be the level of precision required to succeed (from the traditional stickball of multiple ancestral cultures, to relatively modern sports such as tennis, baseball, polo or golf 7). In modern times, the use of these tools has proliferated as recreational activities. Humans also use tool composites in which the interaction between two or more objects is maintained in a constantly dynamic state. Importantly, these actions are performed with two freely moving objects which at some stage form a stable structure. For example, the sling and atlatl that humans have been using for tens of thousands of years 5, 6 are characterized by combining the complementary but distinct functions of two objects to achieve a single goal (in the case of the sling and the atlatl, to hit or stab a distant object/prey). Such multiple tool constructs are referred to as ‘composite tools’ 1, 4. 2, 3), some of the most successful tools of all time, were the result of combining the complementary function of two non-assembled objects. Prior to the innovation of compound tools for which the respective objects are combined (for example stuck or bound together) to achieve a single tool (e.g. Both of the latter two types of associative tool use require an agent to use two or more tools at the same time, independent of one being attached to another. It includes, among other variants, compound and composite tool use. To our knowledge, this indicates that the cognitive preconditions for composite tool use have also evolved outside the primate lineage.Īssociative tool use (i.e., using more than one tool to achieve the same goal 1), has played a significant role in human technical evolution. To test whether the solution could be socially transmitted, we conducted a second study, which provided only tentative evidence for emulative learning. The consistent use of different techniques by different subjects highlights the innovative nature of the individual solutions. We demonstrate that these parrots can innovate composite tool use by actively controlling the position of the end effector and movement of both objects involved in a goal directed manner. We tested Goffin’s cockatoos on a composite tool problem, the ‘Golf Club Task’, that requires the use of two objects in combination (one used to control the free movement of a second) to get a reward. The innovative strategies underlying the innovation and spread of tool manufacture and associative tool use (using > 1 tools) across tool using animals is an important milestone towards a better understanding of the evolution of human technology. Typically, it depends on a number of specific and often complex spatial relations and there are thus very few reported cases in non-human animals (e.g., specific nut-cracking techniques in chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys). Composite tool use (using more than one tool simultaneously to achieve an end) has played a significant role in the development of human technology.
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