Physical cognition - Tool use

Question 1

What two factors have driven human evolution?

Answer 1

language and tool use

Question 2

What percentage of animals can use tools?

Answer 2

Less than 1% of all animals that exist , however it is really widespread across lots of evolutionary origins

Question 3

Explain nut cracking in capuchin monkeys

Answer 3

Monkeys use effectively selected stones to pound open nuts on stone anvils. Young monkeys need years of practice before achieving proficiency in cracking nuts with stones.

Question 4

Explain sponging in bottlenose dolphins

Answer 4

Around 11% of the female adult dolphin population in Australia use marine sponges as tools - ‘‘spongers’’ were more solitary and spent more time foraging than non-spongers

Question 5

How did sponging spread as a behaviour amongst the dolphin population?

Answer 5

Almost exclusive vertical social transmission within a single matriline from mother to female

Question 6

Is there a genetic association among tool-using sea otters?

Answer 6

No, microsatellite analyses showed that snail specialists were no more related to each other than to the population as a whole

Question 7

What is cumulative culture?

Answer 7

Traditions are gradually modified and for technological traditions in particular, improved upon over time - the repeated modification of transmission of culture is commonly described as a form of descent with modification characterised by a ratchet effect