title: Tool use for corpse cleaning in chimpanzees.
abstract: For the first time, chimpanzees have been observed using tools to clean the corpse of a deceased group member. A female chimpanzee sat down at the dead body of a young male, selected a firm stem of grass, and started to intently remove debris from his teeth. This report contributes novel behaviour to the chimpanzee's ethogram, and highlights how crucial information for reconstructing the evolutionary origins of human mortuary practices may be missed by refraining from developing adequate observation techniques to capture non-human animals' death responses.
authors.affiliation: University of St Andrews, School of Psychology &Neuroscience, Westburn Lane, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9JP, United Kingdom.|Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Edwin J C
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: van Leeuwen
authors.affiliation: Lincoln Park Zoo, Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, IL 60614, Chicago, United States of America.
authors.forename: Katherine A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Cronin
authors.affiliation: University of Leipzig, Department of Early Child Development and Culture and Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Jahnallee 59, Leipzig, 04109, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel B M
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Haun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003643:Death; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D053001:Tool Use Behavior