How Do Chimpanzees Use Tools? Examples from the Wild

Chimpanzee tool use shows how biology, culture, and genetics shape learning, teaching, and problem-solving in primates.

By: Tara Bulut Allred Nov 13, 2025

Chimpanzees are renowned for using tools in the wild, a skill once thought to be uniquely human. Jane Goodall’s groundbreaking observation at Gombe Stream in 1960 of a chimpanzee “fishing” for termites with a twig shattered this misconception. In that moment, chimps went from being viewed as mere animals to intelligent problem-solvers, prompting Louis Leakey’s famous remark: “We must now redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as human.”

A Remarkable Toolkit

Wild chimpanzees use one of the broadest toolkits in the animal kingdom. They craft sticks to fish termites from mounds, wield stones to crack nuts, chew leaves into sponges to collect water, and fashion probes to extract honey. In some regions, such as the Goualougo Triangle in the Republic of Congo, chimps prepare entire tool sets, using one stick to puncture a mound and another, modified with a frayed “brush tip,” to catch termites. These behaviors demonstrate foresight, dexterity, and an understanding of cause and effect.

Chimps at Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, a PASA accredited sanctuary in Uganda, use sticks to fish for termites.

Learning from Mothers and Peers

Young chimps aren’t born tool experts – they learn through years of observation and practice. Infants often play with sticks or imitate their mothers, gradually refining techniques. In places where tasks are especially complex, mothers actively teach, sometimes handing tools directly to their young. Studies show it can take more than a decade for chimps to fully master skills like nut cracking, underscoring their long learning curve and remarkable patience.

Tool traditions are also cultural. Different chimpanzee groups practice distinct behaviors: some communities sponge water with moss, others do not; some crack nuts, others never learn the technique. These traditions spread socially, much like human customs, and can vary widely even between neighboring populations.

Innovation and Necessity

Chimpanzees innovate when faced with challenges. When fruit is scarce, they adapt their tool usage to access alternative foods like insects or honey. In Guinea-Bissau, chimps were recently filmed dipping sticks for honey – the first observation of this behavior in that region. In Senegal, others have been seen sharpening sticks into spears to hunt small animals. Such examples highlight the adaptability of chimpanzees, proving that necessity drives invention.

Tool use also reveals chimps’ cognitive sophistication. They often plan ahead, carrying hammer stones to nut trees or reshaping sticks for specific purposes. Studies indicate that both biology and culture influence handedness and tool use.

Why It Matters

A young chimpanzee at Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary eats termites from a mound.

These tool traditions are more than clever tricks; they are part of the cultural heritage of chimpanzee communities. When habitats are destroyed or groups are lost to poaching, we don’t just lose individual animals, we lose entire sets of knowledge passed down over generations. Protecting chimpanzees means safeguarding their unique cultures as well.

Supporting Chimpanzees and Their Cultures

Chimpanzees remind us that every generation produces inventors, teachers, and problem solvers. The Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) works across Africa to rescue orphaned chimps, protect forest habitats, and educate communities about primate intelligence and welfare. By supporting PASA, you help ensure that these incredible tool-using traditions endure for generations to come.

Learn more, share their story, or consider supporting a sanctuary. Together, we can keep chimpanzees, and their cultures, safe and thriving.

References

BBC News. (2017, January 6). Chimpanzees spotted using unusual tools to obtain food. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38524671

Bessa, J., Hockings, K., & Biro, D. (2021). First evidence of chimpanzee extractive tool use in Cantanhez, Guinea-Bissau: Cross-community variation in honey dipping. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9, 625303. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.625303

Boesch, C., & Boesch, H. (1990). Tool use and tool making in wild chimpanzees. Folia Primatologica, 54(1–2), 86–99. https://doi.org/10.1159/000156428 

Jane Goodall Institute. (2019, July 24). Now we must redefine man or accept chimpanzees as human. Jane Goodall Institute News. https://news.janegoodall.org/2019/07/24/now-we-must-redefine-man-or-accept-chimpanzees-ashumans/

Malherbe, M., Samuni, L., Ebel, S. J., Kopp, K. S., Crockford, C., & Wittig, R. M. (2024). Protracted development of stick tool use skills extends into adulthood in wild western chimpanzees. PLoS Biology, 22(5), e3002609. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002609

Musgrave, S., Morgan, D., Lonsdorf, E., Mundry, R., & Sanz, C. (2016). Tool transfers are a form of teaching among chimpanzees. Scientific Reports, 6, 34783. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep34783

Nodé-Langlois, O., Rolland, E., Girard-Buttoz, C., Samuni, L., Ferrari, P. F., Wittig, R. M., & Crockford, C. (2025). Social tolerance and role model diversity increase tool use learning opportunities across chimpanzee ontogeny. Communications Biology, 8(1), 509. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07885-4

O’Malley, R. C., Wallauer, W., Murray, C. M., & Goodall, J. (2012). The appearance and spread of ant fishing among the Kasekela chimpanzees of Gombe: A possible case of intercommunity cultural transmission. Current Anthropology, 53(6), 650–663. https://doi.org/10.1086/667692

Sanz, C. M., & Morgan, D. B. (2013). Ecological and social correlates of chimpanzee tool use. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 368(1630), 20120416. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0416