TL;DR: Adult wild chimpanzees in Senegal demonstrate tool use and then hand the tools to infants so the young can practice the same motion.

Wild chimpanzees at the Dindefelo Community Nature Reserve in southeastern Senegal pass foraging technology to offspring through demonstration followed by tool handover, according to Ars Technica reporting on a new paper in Frontiers in Psychology.

What the new finding shows

The central result is a two-step sequence. Experienced animals first model a foraging action with a twig, stick, stone or hard wood fragment, then transfer that object to a younger animal that repeats the movement, according to Ars Technica. The authors describe receiving food and tools from experienced individuals as food transfer or tool transfer.

Co-author Andreu Sánchez-Megías, a graduate student at the University of Barcelona and the Jane Goodall Institute Spain in Senegal, said such transfers may help chimpanzees learn to use technology to extract foods that are difficult to access, according to Ars Technica. The same researcher said tool transfers appear to be a form of teaching, together with observation and supervised practice, according to Ars Technica. He added that mothers are the main models and teachers for young chimpanzees in this manner, according to Ars Technica.

A separate account in Discover Wildlife described the pattern as hands-on teaching in which experienced chimpanzees show youngsters what to do and then give them the opportunity to try it for themselves. That account said the behavior, reported in Frontiers in Psychology, offers a glimpse into the rich cognitive and social lives of chimpanzees. It also framed the result as another reminder that behaviors thought uniquely human are not always so.

Where and when researchers watched

The observational work took place at the Dindefelo Community Nature Reserve just southeast of Senegal, in the Kedougou region, according to Ars Technica. Discover Wildlife described the same field effort as camera traps in the Dindefelo area of south-eastern Senegal at spots where chimpanzees are known to stop and use tools.

The observation window ran between 2017 and 2025, according to Ars Technica. Discover Wildlife gave the same interval for setting up camera traps. Researchers placed camera traps at 14 different locations and accumulated nearly 15 hours of video footage, according to Ars Technica.

Analysis of that footage revealed 33 instances of tool transfer behavior and three attempts in which a tool was either offered and rejected or another chimpanzee attempted to take a tool and failed, according to Ars Technica. Discover Wildlife reported the same overall total of 33 instances of chimpanzees transferring tools to one another. The team also captured four instances of baobab fruit transfers, according to Ars Technica, a total also reported by Discover Wildlife as four instances of transferring fruit.

Which foraging tasks involved tools

Of the tool transfers, 58 percent were in the context of ant dipping with a twig to scoop up ants, while 30 percent and 12 percent respectively occurred during algae fishing and termite fishing, according to Ars Technica.

Ant dipping uses a twig to collect ants from a nest. Algae fishing uses shaped sticks to collect algae. Termite fishing uses a stripped twig to extract termites from a nest. Discover Wildlife noted that chimpanzees make leaf sponges to soak up liquids, shape sticks to fish for algae, and sharpen simple spears for hunting.

The baobab cases involved a different form of assisted access. The chimpanzees use stone or hard pieces of wood to crack open the fruit, an example of proto-tool use, according to Ars Technica. Discover Wildlife described sticks and stone anvils as the relevant technology, contrasting that toolkit with smartphones and satnavs to emphasize foraging function.

Who gave tools and who received them

The original tool holders were usually adults in 58 percent of cases and predominantly female, with most recipients at 42 percent being infants, according to Ars Technica. About 30 percent of the tool transfers were a mother handing the tool to her offspring, according to Ars Technica. Discover Wildlife similarly reported that most transfers involved mothers and their offspring, although other family members sometimes got involved too.

In all but one case, the recipient initiated the voluntary transfer, according to Ars Technica. There were a couple of cases where a chimpanzee simply stole the tool or fruit, prompting a retaliatory strike from the original holder or the holder grabbing back the tool, according to Ars Technica.

The authors view chimpanzees as social learners, according to Ars Technica. Prior research cited by the authors showed that chimpanzee mirror neurons fire in response to both actions directed to objects, termed transitive, and actions not directed to objects, termed intransitive, much like humans, according to Ars Technica. That similarity made chimpanzees suitable subjects to study the role of social learning in tool transfer, according to Ars Technica.

Case one: Soukki and Saïsaï dip for ants

The authors highlighted two case studies in particular, one involving ant dipping and the other involving baobab fruit transfer, according to Ars Technica. The first was recorded in February 2018, when a small group of chimpanzees was clustered around an ant nest as adults engaged in ant dipping, according to Ars Technica.

An adult female named Soukki dipped a twig into the ant nest and left it there as she brought over her infant, Saïsaï, according to Ars Technica. Saïsaï then pulled out the twig and ate the collected ants, according to Ars Technica. A subsequent recording showed Saïsaï fully mimicking her mother’s ant-dipping behavior, according to Ars Technica.

Discover Wildlife gave additional movement detail for the same pair, reporting that Soukki seemed to show her daughter Saïsaï how to dip for ants with Saïsaï standing opposite. In that description, Soukki dipped a stick in and out of an ant nest, wiped the attached insects off with her hand, then ate them. She then poked the stick back into the colony, grabbed her daughter, and led her to it. Saïsaï pulled the stick from the nest, wiped off the ants and ate them, according to Discover Wildlife.

The pair was identified by the Jane Goodall Institute Spain in Senegal as Soukki and Saïsaï in imagery credited to that institute and to Sánchez-Megías and colleagues, according to Discover Wildlife. Ars Technica likewise credited imagery of ant-dipping tool transfer to the Jane Goodall Institute Spain in Senegal.

Case two: Féré, Fotti and baobab fruit

The second case study was recorded in December 2021, when a mother chimpanzee named Féré brought three baobab fruits to a rocky outcrop with several other chimpanzees, including her male infant, Fotti, according to Ars Technica.

Discover Wildlife reported that mother Féré placed three baobab fruits on a rocky outcrop. Then a juvenile male arrived and appeared to show Féré’s baby, Fotti, how to break open the fruit by smashing it against the rock. Fotti watched closely, then tried, and eventually succeeded in repeating the process, according to Discover Wildlife.

The same account said baby Fotti watched a young male break up baobab fruits on a rocky outcrop, then tried to copy him, in a caption crediting the Jane Goodall Institute Spain in Senegal and Sánchez-Megías and colleagues. Ars Technica credited imagery of baobab fruit transfer and pounding to the Jane Goodall Institute Spain in Senegal.

Together the two examples link demonstration, close watching and immediate practice. In the ant example the adult leaves a baited probe in place for the infant. In the fruit example the younger animal observes pounding on a hard surface and then attempts the same pounding action.

How this fits known chimpanzee tool use

Tool use was once thought to be one of the defining features of humans, although Charles Darwin observed chimpanzees using stones to crack nuts in 1871, according to Ars Technica. In 1960, primatologist Jane Goodall observed a chimpanzee named David Greybeard bend a twig, strip off the leaves, and use it to spoon termites out of a nest and into his mouth, according to Ars Technica. Discover Wildlife similarly noted that Goodall famously observed a chimpanzee called David Greybeard strip a twig to make a termite-fishing rod.

When he learned of the behavior, Goodall’s mentor, Louis Leakey, observed, “Now we must redefine ‘tool,’ redefine ‘man,’ or accept chimpanzees as humans,” according to Ars Technica. Since then, chimpanzees have been observed making sponges out of leaves to soak up liquids, shaping sticks to collect algae, and sharpening rudimentary spears for hunting, according to Ars Technica.

Other species show actions discussed in connection with tool use. Dolphins can toss objects as a form of play, which some scientists consider to be a type of tool use, particularly when it involves another member of the same species, according to Ars Technica. Potential purposes include communication, social bonding, or aggression, according to Ars Technica. Octopuses have also been observed engaging in similar throwing behavior, according to Ars Technica.

In the wild, observed tool use by birds has been limited to the corvids, crows and jays, which show various other complex behaviors, according to Ars Technica. Those birds will remember a human face and recognize the passing of their dead, according to Ars Technica. In 2012, a captive cockatoo named Figaro was observed spontaneously using multiple steps to process a tool, behavior never seen in this species in the wild, according to Ars Technica. Earlier in 2026, a pet Swiss brown cow in Austria named Veronika caused a sensation because she likes to pick up random sticks and use them to scratch herself, according to Ars Technica. That cow behavior was described as multipurpose tool use and as suggesting that the cognitive capabilities of cows have been underestimated by scientists, according to Ars Technica.

Why transfer matters for learning difficult foods

The study’s interpretation centers on access to difficult foods. Receiving food and tools from experienced individuals may help chimpanzees learn to use technology to extract foods that are difficult to access, according to Ars Technica. Discover Wildlife carried the same statement from Sánchez-Megías, quoting him as saying that receiving food and tools from experienced individuals may help chimpanzees learn to use technology and extract foods that are difficult to access.

Tool transfer thus appears to be a form of teaching, together with observation and supervised practice, according to both Ars Technica and Discover Wildlife. The emphasis on supervised practice distinguishes simple tolerance of scrounging from active facilitation, because the adult’s implement remains available and the infant performs the collecting motion.

The age pattern supports a learning account. Infants formed the largest recipient group. Mothers formed a large share of donors. Recipient initiation in almost every voluntary case indicates that youngsters solicit access rather than passively receive objects. Failed attempts, rejected offers and rare thefts with retaliation show that transfer is not automatic sharing.

For readers in the United States following primate cognition, the Senegal result connects laboratory ideas about imitation and mirror systems to field video of mothers, infants and nearby juveniles solving foraging problems. The work does not claim language-like instruction. It documents repeated demonstration, object handover, close watching and copied action around ants, algae, termites and hard-shelled fruit.

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