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. 2017 Mar 13:7:44091.
doi: 10.1038/srep44091.

Tool use for corpse cleaning in chimpanzees

Edwin J C van Leeuwen  1   2 , Katherine A Cronin  3 , Daniel B M Haun  4
Affiliations

Tool use for corpse cleaning in chimpanzees

Edwin J C van Leeuwen et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

For the first time, chimpanzees have been observed using tools to clean the corpse of a deceased group member. A female chimpanzee sat down at the dead body of a young male, selected a firm stem of grass, and started to intently remove debris from his teeth. This report contributes novel behaviour to the chimpanzee's ethogram, and highlights how crucial information for reconstructing the evolutionary origins of human mortuary practices may be missed by refraining from developing adequate observation techniques to capture non-human animals' death responses.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Tool use for corpse cleaning in chimpanzees.
A female chimpanzee named Noel (a) approached Thomas’ body, (b) turned sideways to select a hard piece of grass, (c) held the grass in her mouth while opening Thomas’ mouth with both of her hands, and (d) cleaned Thomas’ teeth using the grass.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Hand-tool dexterity.
Depicted is the way by which Noel held her hands and the grass tool in relation to Thomas’ mouth while cleaning his teeth.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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