Chimpanzees Pass Tool‑Use Skills to Offspring Through Direct Teaching

A new study published in Frontiers in Psychology shows that adult chimpanzees deliberately model tool‑use behaviors and then hand tools to young chimpanzees, allowing the juveniles to mimic the motions. The research, conducted by graduate student Andreu Sánchez‑Megías of the University of Barcelona and the Jane Goodall Institute in Senegal, demonstrates that mothers are the primary teachers in this process. The paper highlights that this form of food or tool transfer constitutes a teaching strategy, complementing observation and supervised practice. The findings build on long‑standing observations of chimpanzee tool use—from stone‑cracking nuts to leaf‑sponges—and suggest that intentional teaching may be more widespread among nonhuman primates than previously recognized.