# Oh oh, now the chimps are armed with pointy sticks.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [March 24, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542 "2008-03-24T16:20:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/1 "2008-03-24T16:20:53Z")
An interesting read on the National Geographic Magazine website:
[Almost Human](http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2008-04/chimps-with-spears/roach-text.html)
> [@](#):
>
> In 2007 Jill Pruetz, an anthropologist at Iowa State University, reported that a Fongoli female chimp named Tumbo was seen two years earlier, less than a mile from where we are right now, sharpening a branch with her teeth and wielding it like a spear. She used it to stab at a bush baby—a pocket-size, tree-dwelling nocturnal primate that springs from branch to branch like a grasshopper.
>
> …
>
> There are individuals who are uncomfortable with Pruetz’s tales of spear-wielding chimps, and not all of them are bush babies.
Could this be the birth of a new intelligent species?, who is to say that we are the only that had the potential to follow that path?
It actually poses an interesting question, how would we handle being witnesses to the birth of a new intelligent species on the planet?
> [@](#):
>
> We looked around, and there he was, standing on a branch in a kino tree, holding on with one hand and waving a thick, three-foot-long stick over his head. He slammed it down into the hole, then examined the tip. Concluding that no one was home, he took off, leaving the spear protruding from the hole. The violence and foresight with which he undertook his task did not suggest an animal quietly foraging. His aim was unmistakable: to kill, or at least incapacitate, whatever was in there.
How nice, primates primary intelligence drive seems to be finding ways to more efficient ways to kill things, it certainly explain a lot of humans behaviour.
I´d expand on the subject but “Army of Darkness” is on TV right now so I´ll leave a final piece of advice:
> [@](#):
>
> I had known that chimps laugh, but I did not know that they get upset if someone laughs at them
Don´t laugh at monkeys, they get angry, have pointy sticks and are not affraid to use them.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/2 "2008-03-24T16:24:23Z")
[Obligatory Monty Python reference.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piWCBOsJr-w)
And it’s point-ed sticks.
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/3 "2008-03-24T17:27:33Z")
Haven’t they always done stuff like this to some degree, though?
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/4 "2008-03-24T17:36:30Z")
I was just watching something about capuchine (sp?) monkeys using tools. They used stones to break open some sort of nut. Not that special you say? Well the stones were all river rocks and were carried there over a mile. Some of the stones weighed as much as the monkeys did. Plus, they had to teach their young how to do it. You first had to drink the juice from the nut, then let it dry out for a few days, then you could smash it open.
Also some monkeys use stones to do something similar but other families of monkeys, in the same area, use sticks to do the job.
OH and some Sneeches have stars on their belly while others have no stars on thars.
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### Author:  [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/5 "2008-03-24T19:43:25Z")
um…has anybody seen my monolith recently? It was right here alongside my cave, and now it’s gone.
And suddenly I have an urge to take a bone and flip it up in the air…
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/6 "2008-03-24T20:35:32Z")
If they ever come up with a board with a nail in it, we’re all doomed.
Getting the obligatory Simsons reference out of the way.
It really shouldn’t be such a surprise to us that other species are more intelligent than we give them credit for. Sadly, we keep insisting that we’re the only smart ones and they’re all just a bunch of dumb animals.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Love)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/7 "2008-03-24T22:38:26Z")
As I understand the science, being pushed to near extinction may have been the event that forced prehistoric humans into modern-level intelligence. I wonder if we might do the same thing to other great apes.
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### Author:  [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2008, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/8 "2008-03-24T22:57:20Z")
I for one,
…nah, can’t do it.
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### Author:  [@ignis\_glaciesque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignis_glaciesque)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/9 "2008-03-24T23:22:10Z")
Howdy, folks, resident anthropology student checking in (and I got an exam tomorrow, so all day long, it’s been _Australopithecus_ this and _Hylobates_ that). I’m not sure about capuchin monkeys using rocks to smash open nuts, but I know for a fact that chimpanzees and bonobos did, and even _taught_ their mad nut-smashing sk1llz to their young — stuff that would be considered _cultural_, by some definitions (if we define ‘culture’ as ‘learned behaviors passed on through generations’)!
But it’s actually not all that surprising, when you consider that certain populations of chimpanzees also use twigs to fish out termites from their nests, and use leaves to soak up water from rivers to drink. They’re very smart critters, and they like to tinker around.
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### Author:  [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/10 "2008-03-25T01:46:15Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck]
And it’s point-ed sticks.
[/QUOTE]
[Stiff upper lip]Shut up![/SUL]
[QUOTE=ignis\_glaciesque]
But it’s actually not all that surprising, when you consider that certain populations of chimpanzees also use twigs to fish out termites from their nests, and use leaves to soak up water from rivers to drink. They’re very smart critters, and they like to tinker around.
[/QUOTE]
Of course, I knew about those behaviours, but those are, to call it something, object trouvé, or readymade “tools”, I think there´s a significant gap between using a piece of vine to fish out thermites and picking up a stick and sharpening it into a spear like tool. Those monkeys\* are actually, although primetively, making tools.
It´s a matter of time from pointed sticks to boomsticks now. 😃
Good luck on your exam.
\*_I know they are apes, don´t hit me._
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### Author:  [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/11 "2008-03-25T02:49:31Z")
Just as long as we keep them away from the typewriters.
(and a lot of spare time)
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### Author:  [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/12 "2008-03-25T02:56:41Z")
[QUOTE=Ale]
I think there´s a significant gap between using a piece of vine to fish out **thermites** and picking up a stick and sharpening it into a spear like tool. Those monkeys\* are actually, although primetively, making tools.
It´s a matter of time from pointed sticks to boomsticks now. 😃
[/QUOTE]
Well, if they already have **thermite** , it \*\*is \*\* just a matter of time to boomsticks!
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2008, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/13 "2008-03-25T03:03:55Z")
[QUOTE=ignis\_glaciesque]
They’re very smart critters, and they like to tinker around.
[/QUOTE]
I’d have said they like to monkey around.
(And yes, I know.)
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/14 "2008-03-25T03:12:18Z")
Be reasonable! How else do you expect chimps to defend themselves against bush babies? With their bare hands? Have you ever seen a bush baby stalking its prey? They can leap from tree to tree like grasshoppers. A fully grown bush baby has a maximum speed of 45 mph and makes absolutely no sound before it strikes. Bush babies will take you down before you even have time to scream. They will tear your heart out of your ribcage and show it to you before you die. They have no compassion.
If chimps had no access to spear or termite technology, they would surely have been wiped out by bush babies millennia ago. So would the rest of us, for that matter. Many prominent bushbabyologists have suggested that humanity would never have had the opportunity to develop language and porn, if other primates weren’t out there defending against the constant bush baby threat.
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### Author:  [@ignis\_glaciesque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignis_glaciesque)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2008, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/15 "2008-03-25T03:31:32Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel]
Be reasonable! How else do you expect chimps to defend themselves against bush babies? With their bare hands?
_le snip_
[/QUOTE]
_spits drink all over monitor_
Ha! You, sir or madam, have brightened up my day! And given me an honor’s thesis topic to work on… 😛
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2008, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/16 "2008-03-25T04:31:01Z")
[QUOTE=ignis\_glaciesque]
_spits drink all over monitor_
Ha! You, sir or madam, have brightened up my day! And given me an honor’s thesis topic to work on… 😛
[/QUOTE]
My god… what have I done?
I should warn you, the field of bushbabyological studies is not for the faint of heart. Anyone with enough sang-froid to seek out the savage, majestic bush baby in its natural habitat is liable to be catastrophically warped by the perils of their vocation. Most surviving bush baby naturalists are no longer fit to mingle in wider social circles; emotionally crippled wretches linked by a bitter bond of common experience, who achieve a thin measure of solace by comparing scars and trading jungle diseases. They are a grim, dour lot, who occasionally lapse into deep fugue states wherein they joylessly and mechanically stockpile sharp sticks and conceal termites upon their person. As a result, most of the literature regarding bush babies is fragmented and unreliable, much of it couched in dense allegory and encrypted in an intricate polygraphic cipher. This is for your own protection.
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### Author:  [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2008, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/17 "2008-03-25T05:39:01Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel]
My god… what have I done?
I should warn you, the field of bushbabyological studies is not for the faint of heart. Anyone with enough sang-froid to seek out the savage, majestic bush baby in its natural habitat is liable to be catastrophically warped by the perils of their vocation. Most surviving bush baby naturalists are no longer fit to mingle in wider social circles; emotionally crippled wretches linked by a bitter bond of common experience, who achieve a thin measure of solace by comparing scars and trading jungle diseases. They are a grim, dour lot, who occasionally lapse into deep fugue states wherein they joylessly and mechanically stockpile sharp sticks and conceal termites upon their person. As a result, most of the literature regarding bush babies is fragmented and unreliable, much of it couched in dense allegory and encrypted in an intricate polygraphic cipher. This is for your own protection.
[/QUOTE]
That was a thing of beauty. 😃
I hereby cede ownership of the thread to **Terrifel**.
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### Author:  [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2008, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/18 "2008-03-25T06:12:59Z")
[QUOTE=Ale]
Of course, I knew about those behaviours, but those are, to call it something, object trouvé, or readymade “tools”, I think there´s a significant gap between using a piece of vine to fish out thermites and picking up a stick and sharpening it into a spear like tool. Those monkeys\* are actually, although primetively, making tools.
[/QUOTE]
But the termite fishers I’ve heard about do go beyond simply using found objects as is. The pull a fresh large twig from a plant, then strip off the leaves and smaller twigs to make it suitable for fishing.
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### Author:  [@ignis\_glaciesque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignis_glaciesque)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/19 "2008-03-26T04:10:13Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel]
My god… what have I done?
I should warn you, the field of bushbabyological studies is not for the faint of heart. Anyone with enough sang-froid to seek out the savage, majestic bush baby in its natural habitat is liable to be catastrophically warped by the perils of their vocation. Most surviving bush baby naturalists are no longer fit to mingle in wider social circles; emotionally crippled wretches linked by a bitter bond of common experience, who achieve a thin measure of solace by comparing scars and trading jungle diseases. They are a grim, dour lot, who occasionally lapse into deep fugue states wherein they joylessly and mechanically stockpile sharp sticks and conceal termites upon their person. As a result, most of the literature regarding bush babies is fragmented and unreliable, much of it couched in dense allegory and encrypted in an intricate polygraphic cipher. This is for your own protection.
[/QUOTE]
You have just described one of our department, to a tee. Pointy sticks and everything. Perhaps he can be my advisor!
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-oh-now-the-chimps-are-armed-with-pointy-sticks/442542/20 "2008-03-26T04:18:02Z")
Might as well get this one out of the way:
> [@](#):
>
> It actually poses an interesting question, how would we handle being witnesses to the birth of a new intelligent species on the planet?
We’ll have to nuke them from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
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