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Chimpanzees' technical reasoning: Taking fieldwork and ontogeny seriously

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2020

Christophe Boesch Open the ORCID record for Christophe Boesch [Opens in a new window]
Christophe Boesch*
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103Leipzig, Germany. boesch@eva.mpg.dehttps://www.eva.mpg.de/primat/staff/boesch/index.html
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Abstract

Following the tradition of comparing humans with chimpanzees placed under unfavorable conditions, the authors suggest many uniquely human technological abilities. However, chimpanzees use spontaneously tools in nature to achieve many different goals demonstrating technological skills and reasoning contradicting the authors contrast. Chimpanzees and humans develop skills through the experiences faced during their upbringing and neglecting this leads to fake conclusions.

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Open Peer Commentary
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Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 43 , 2020 , e158
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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