You say potato, I say hammer

By Matt Wood in Miscellaneous on Feb 22, 2006 5:14PM

Say what you will about our lack of curiosity and our general bad attitude, but stick a metal potato on a chain in front of us and we'd be skeptical too. A researcher at the Lincoln Park Zoo did just that to some chimpanzees, and they didn't exactly pick it up start bashing away to the strains of "Also Sprach Zarathustra."

The aluminum potato is a tool fashioned by Steve Ross, and ape behaviorist at the zoo. He is trying to see if the zoo's chimps and gorillas can learn to use heavy objects to crack open nuts. The experiment is part of a series of studies to see how fast apes can learn. Remember, back in December the zoo began teaching apes how to use a touch-screen computer to match shapes and faces.

So why a metal potato? The tool needed to be strong enough to break open the nuts, but not be dangerous. Monkeys, being monkeys, like to chuck other heavy objects like rocks and break windows. Metal tools could be secured by a chain, and formed into a shape that the apes could grasp easily. After studying a similar experiment in Japan, Ross decided that a potato was just the right size and shape. The "hammer" is paired with a concrete slab for an anvil. Ross plans to demonstrate how to use it crack nuts, hoping the monkeys will follow suit.

Humans may have decided that a potato was the best tool for the job, but the chimps weren't so sure. The Trib reports that a few of them jingled the chain and sniffed around, but none seemed to know what to do with it. So what's up monkeys? They taught a pig at Brookfield Zoo how to paint, and you can't even figure out a metal potato on a chain?