Tool use as adaptation

Dora Biro, Michael Haslam, Christian Rutz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Tool use is a vital component of the human behavioural repertoire. The benefits of tool use have often been assumed to be self-evident: by extending control over our environment, we have increased energetic returns and buffered ourselves from potentially harmful influences. In recent decades, however, the study of tool use in both humans and non-human animals has expanded the way we think about the role of tools in the natural world. This Theme Issue is aimed at bringing together this developing body of knowledge, gathered across multiple species and from multiple research perspectives, to chart the wider evolutionary context of this phylogenetically rare behaviour.
Original languageEnglish
Article number20120408
JournalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. B, Biological Sciences
Volume368
Issue number1630
Early online date7 Oct 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Nov 2013

Keywords

  • Technological evolution
  • Ontogeny
  • Culture
  • Cognition
  • Anatomy
  • Social learning

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