SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — When Jane Goodall went into the jungles of Tanzania in 1960 and returned with news that chimpanzees used tools, obliterating the myth that humans were the only species to do so, many people expressed their wounded pride with disbelief.
Since then, not only has Goodall been proved correct, but scientists have observed other primates, elephants, dolphins and birds using tools.
Now, thanks to University of California, Santa Cruz ecology and evolutionary biology professor Giacomo Bernardi, there is video evidence that fish can be added to that list as well.
“When Goodall reported that chimpanzees use tools it was a huge revolution in behavioral science,” Bernardi said. “People didn’t believe her right away, and then they assumed that probably only very advanced vertebrates use tools. Then they saw it in birds and other animals. A lot of people think fishes don’t do all that much, but if you spend enough time with fishes you’ll see that they do very sophisticated things.”
There have been reports from researchers for years that certain fish species use tools, but Bernardi is the first to produce video evidence, which was published by the journal “Coral Reefs.” While Bernardi was in Palau, an island nation north of New Zealand, he taped an orange-dotted tuskfish as it dug a clam out of the sand, grabbed it in its mouth, swam to a suitable rock and then pounded the clam against it until it cracked.
“The fish is doing a number of really complex things,” Bernardi said.
“First it is excavating the sand to fish out the clam, and then it swims for a long time to find the proper place to break it. The fish is planning the whole action. It’s really interesting.” Bernardi said that scientists aren’t sure how the skill developed, and whether or not it comes from instinct or if the fish learns from watching others.
“Fish are visual,” he said. “They are always following each other. So, whether they learn it or it comes from instinct will be very interesting to look at. In some tribes of chimps they learn skills from each other, and different tribes of chimps have no idea how to do that skill.”
In this case, and every reported case in the past, the fish has always been from the wrasse species of fish. “Wrasses are very inquisitive, very smart fishes,” he said. “Their brain is very particularly developed. It is carnivorous and has a keen sense of smell and vision.
But not all tool use among animals is equally sophisticated. The chimpanzees Goodall observed actually “manufactured” tools, Bernardi said, for example finding just the right stick to dig into termite nests and stripping it of leaves and bending it to reach as far as possible.
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