Chimp Attacks Drone with a Tool, Showing Forward Thinking and Planning

First Posted: Sep 04, 2015 08:24 AM EDT
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Apparently chimps like their privacy. A chimpanzee managed to create a tool to knock an expensive drone from the sky after it tried to film the chimp in its habitat.

The drone was actually filming at the Royal Burgers Zoo chimp enclosure for a TV show. Yet the filming soon came to an end when one of the chimps knocked the drone out of the sky with a stick, and then investigated the device.

Now, officials are saying that the action demonstrated an impressive level of forward planning by the angry ape.

"The use of the stick as a weapon in this context was a unique action," said Jan van Hooff, one of the researchers, in an interview with The Guardian. "It seemed deliberate, given the decision to collect it and carry it to a place where the drone might be attacked."

In fact, this latest action actually indicates that chimps engage in forward planning of tool-use acts. In addition, this incident shows that the apes were interested in investigating the drone to see what it was and determine whether or not it was a threat.

The incident shows that chimps may be far more intelligent than we thought. More specifically, it indicates that these animals can be planners rather than just acting reflexively.

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