4 ms·
Last I knew, the 3.3 mya evidence from the site Lomekwi 3 in Kenya was debatable, though a serious possibility, and the 2.58 mya evidence from the Olduvai Gorge
by mmooss 9mo ago
Last I knew, the 3.3 mya evidence from the site Lomekwi 3 in Kenya was debatable, though a serious possibility, and the 2.58 mya evidence from the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania was considered the sure thing.
Also, more than primates use tools: Many corvids (crows, ravens, etc.) do, as do other animals. Look up New Caledonian Crows in particular.
But don't take all this from HN commenters debating each other; find some authoritative sources. A recent review article in a scientific journal would be a great start. Google Scholar lets you search for review articles.
- bookofjoe 9mo agoMost recently (January 19, 2026): cows >Flexible use of a multi-purpose tool by a cow https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)01597-0 https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)...
- thinkingtoilet 9mo agoDid they look like this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_tools#/media/File:Cow_Tools_cartoon.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_tools#/media/File:Cow_Tool...
- catigula 9mo agoThis reminds me of "koko the gorilla can speak English" stuff. Need to disambiguate learned mimickry from the real thing.
- mockbuild 9mo agoMulti-purpose egocentric tool use.
- layer8 9mo agoWe are talking about tool manufacture here, however, not just about tool use.
- awesome_dude 9mo agoThat's a difficult distinction to make - at which point does tool selection differ from modification for use as a tool - any animal that strips the leaves off a twig in order to use it as a tool has manufactured the tool.
- mmooss 9mo agoThe people of the Olduvan industry from 2.58 mya tools (the earliest accepted by consensus [0]) manufactured their tools - that's exactly what archaeologists are talking about. Chimps and New Caledonian Crows (and maybe some other animals) also manufacture their tools, at least sometimes, BTW. IIRC the crows strip sticks and bend them into hooks to grab at objects. Why would someone imply otherwise if they don't know? What are people trying to prove in this discussion? [0] There's strong evidence of 3.3 mya; see other comments.
- layer8 9mo agoNot sure what you are asking. My point was that animals using objects as tools is a different thing than the Oldowan stone tool manufacturing “industry”. I wasn’t saying that tool manufacture is exclusive to primates. However, pointing out mere tool use by non-primates is sort of beside the point of the TFA topic, IMO.
- mmooss 9mo ago> My point was that animals using objects as tools is a different thing than the Oldowan stone tool manufacturing “industry”. Agreed, though the dividing line is tricky. (Your prior comment didn't say 95% of that; for example, it doesn't mention animals. Because the parent comments were focused on human ancestors, that's what I thought you were addressing.)
- foxglacier 9mo agoI think the whole interest in tool making is we're looking for clues to intelligence and tools are just one of the few things they left behind. It's much less satisfying to discover an animal's tool making is an instinctual behavior like burrowing animals making their own holes to sleep in, than that they worked it out using more generalized thinking.