Monkey tool use threatens prey numbers, say researchers

Using tools to search for food is affecting primate prey numbers and could potentially lead to prey species extinction, new Oxford research suggests. Using tools to search for food is affecting primate prey numbers and could potentially lead to prey species extinction, new Oxford research suggests. Once thought to be a skill unique to humans, recent studies have shown that some animals, such as monkeys, apes, birds and otters, are able to use tools to find food that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. Tool use has been a gift and a curse for human society, on the one hand allowing people to progress to become one of the most successful species on the planet, but on the other endangering and pushing many prey species to the brink of extinction, particularly in the case of ocean overfishing. In new research published in the journal eLife and funded by the European Research Council, scientists from the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at Oxford University have assessed whether tool use can negatively affect prey species in the same way it does in human society. Using the primate species macaques ( Macaca fascicularis ) as an example, the findings reveal that these monkeys not only use tools but experience the same adverse effects, such as prey decline, which could eventually lead to a loss of tool skills. The paper was presented today at the British Science Festival.