Author Description

Product Description The last decade has witnessed remarkable discoveries and advances in our understanding of the tool using behaviour of animals. Wild populations of capuchin monkeys have been observed to crack open nuts with stone tools, similar to the skills of chimpanzees and humans. Corvids have been observed to use and make tools that rival in complexity the behaviours exhibited by the great apes. Excavations of the nut cracking sites of chimpanzees have been dated to around 4-5 thousand years ago. Tool Use in Animals collates these and many more contributions by leading scholars in psychology, biology and anthropology, along with supplementary online materials, into a comprehensive assessment of the cognitive abilities and environmental forces shaping these behaviours in taxa as distantly related as primates and corvids. Review "Tool Use in Animals: Cognition and Ecology may well be the new benchmark text for animal cognition. This book is clear, well-written, suitably broad in its approach, and delivers information that covers a review of the field in addition to new data. Its appeal will encompass readers from various connected academic disciplines, and [it] is an appropriate text for professionals and for students. This is an important and timely offering, and a happy addition to my library." Kerrie Lewis Graham, American Journal of Physical Anthropology Book Description Appealing to both academic and public audiences, this collection of ground breaking research looks at an extensive range of tool using animals. Contributions from leading scholars examine the cognitive abilities and environmental factors that have shaped the evolution of tool use in animals as distantly related as corvids and primates. About the Author Crickette Sanz is an Assistant Professor in Anthropology at Washington University, St Louis, where she teaches courses on primate behaviour and human evolution. She is one of the principal investigators of