TROGLODYTES NIGER, THE CHIMPANZEE 551 



rnal. Thus, iunij)iii<i; b\ nuans of a stick or jjoIc, whicli was inwntccl clc novo 

 by one of tlu' chiinpaiizrfs 111 {\\v ,l,mou|) and soon nnitatt'd by otlicrs as a 

 nirans of cnUTtainnu'nt, was soon |)ul to a niori,' |:)iac.tKal use in obtammg 

 lood which had l)ccn suspciuk'd al)o\c them and out ol rracli unless tliey 

 resorted to some means of eh'xatini,^ (heir fxxlies into closer ]>ro.\miit\- to the 

 desired goal. So that in the end this improvised mode ol modilied pole \ault- 

 ing became a regular procedure among the cliimpanzees m the business of 

 obtaining food put out of their nach o\'er their heads. 



The animals also used straws and twigs m the maniu'r ol spoons, at 

 first more or less in pla\' during nu'al time cspeciallx after their lirst thirst 

 had i)ecn quenched, and the\ liked to amuse themscK es by dipping the water 

 u]; with a straw and sucking the straw. On one occasion some red wine was 

 poured into the drinking water which they shared in common. On tlu' lirst 

 taste of the new mixture they all paused for a minute, then one of the chim- 

 panzees began to spoon up this no\el drink w ith a straw , and all of the others 

 immediately followed his example with twigs and similar straws. In thus 

 acquiring the use of twigs and straws as spoons there could ha\e been no 

 possibk' imitation, for noiu' of them had had as yet a chance ol seeing a 

 human being use a knife, h)rk or si)oon while eating. The tw ig or stalk was 

 also emploNcd quite deftly in other ways, combining with its usefulness as a 

 table utt-nsil some of the propertii's ol a weapon ol the chase. 



In the summer time, a species of ant intests the portion ol the Canary 

 Islands where these great ajK'S were housed. These ants passed in a wide 

 stream, moving along over the beams around tlu' wire netting which I'licircled 

 the pla\ground. The chimpanzee, ha\ing a special liking for acid fruit, 

 which he prefers to all others, no doubt for this reason relished the formic 

 acid of the insect. Usually upon seeing the ants, the chimpanzee simply 

 rolled his tongue along the beam over which they were crawling and thus 

 gathered them in h)r himself. If the wire netting intervened between him 



