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Animal Tool Behavior

Tools are not only used by humans- ground squirrels kick sand in the faces of venomous snakes, mice set out markers to find their way home and apes do all kinds of things with tools - crack open nuts, apply herbal medications, open locks and doors, stir liquids, saw wood and even dig with a shovel. In a program that originally aired last June, Ben talks with the authors of the revision of the seminal book Animal Tool Behavior.   We ask if tool use is evolutionary important and what it indicates about intelligence.  Ben is joined by Ben Beck, former Director of Conservation of the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Rob Shumaker of the Indianapolis Zoo and Kristina Walkup of Drake University.  

Ben Kieffer is the host of IPR's River to River