Tool use by animals is a subject of enormous controversy, for the simple reason that it's difficult to draw a line between hard-wired instinct and culturally transmitted learning.
Do sea otters smash snails with rocks because they're intelligent and adaptive, or are these mammals born with this innate ability? Are elephants really using "tools" when they scratch their backs with tree branches, or are we mistaking this behavior for something else?
On the following slides, you'll learn about 11 tool-using animals; you can decide for yourself just how smart they really are:
- Coconut Octopuses
- Chimpanzees
- Wrasses and Tuskfish
- Brown, Grizzly and Polar Bears
- American Alligators
- Elephants
- Bottlenose Dolphins
- Orangutans
- Sea Otters
- Woodpecker Finches
- Dorymermex Bicolor
