The Sharpest Tools

Tool use is not restricted to humans and is found throughout nature. Here are some of earth’s most innovative animals

- Hayley Bennett

BRIGHT AS RAIN

BORNEAN ORANGUTAN

When it rains, we humans get out our umbrellas. When it rains at the Camp Leakey research facility in Borneo, the orangutans make their own. Photographer Thomas Marent was observing this mother and baby when the skies opened. While taking out his umbrella to protect his camera, he saw the mother start to collect leaves from the tree. “She formed a kind of hat or shelter,” he says. “She was sitting this way for about 20 minutes.” Wild orangutans have also been observed using sticks to get seeds out of fruit and for measuring the depth of water to establish whether it’s safe to cross. However, researchers think we probably see even more innovative behaviours in captive orangutans, because in the wild they learn from their parents and rarely explore or come across new problems to solve. Orangutans at San Diego Zoo famously escaped from their enclosure nine times, once using a crowbar. If that’s anything to go by, they’re truly some of the smartest – and sneakiest – of the primates.

GRAB AND SMASH

ORANGE-DOTTED TUSKFISH