ABSTRACT
For centuries the capacity to use tools has been considered as the landmark of humankind. In a nut cracking task, chimpanzees are capable of selecting appropriate hammers and anvils -i.e. size, shape, material. This chapter analyzes the capacity of captive chimpanzees to perceive the affordances of unfamiliar tools while engaged in a familiar task. It evaluates the aptitude of five juvenile chimpanzees for successfully cracking nuts, when unfamiliar tools varying in their degree of functionality are offered. They were trained a few months earlier to crack open nuts with stone hammers. The chimpanzee had to crack open a total of 14 nuts from three different species on a familiar anvil.
