🐒

How do capuchin monkeys use rock hammers?

Imagine a small, reddish monkey about the size of a cat. It's a capuchin. It has a funny name - it comes from the Capuchin monks, because the dark "hair" on its head looks like a hood. Capuchins live in South America and they are real wizards with tools!

This is what scientists in Brazil saw. A capuchin finds a palm nut — hard as a rock. It's impossible to crack it, even with his teeth. What does he do? First, he puts the nut on a large flat stone, like a table. Then he takes another stone — heavy, 2-3 kilograms (and the capuchin himself weighs only 3 kg!). He lifts this stone above his head with both hands. And — BANG! — he hits the nut. If the nut doesn't crack — he hits it again. And again. Until he gets the tasty core.

But that's not all. Capuchins choose exactly the stone that is suitable for work! Scientists have noticed: small nuts - a small stone, large ones - a larger one. They try it for weight, for hardness. And they also pass on the skills to their cubs: the baby sits nearby and watches how the mother works. At first, he simply knocks with a stone - clumsily, in passing. Gradually he learns. Full mastery of the hammer comes only at the age of 8 - like a human child going to school!

And in 2016, a discovery was made that amazed scientists. Archaeologists excavated a place in Brazil where capuchins used stone hammers. They found stones worn from blows. They checked the age — 3,000 years! It turns out that capuchin monkeys have been passing on knowledge about tools from generation to generation for three hundred centuries. This is perhaps the oldest «culture» in the animal world!

Yes, it's not just humans and chimpanzees who use tools. Little capuchins in the jungle have proven that intelligence is not just our gift. Nature is more generous than we think.