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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=363916&in_page_id=1770&expand=true#AddComment (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=363916&in_page_id=1770&expand=true#AddComment)

Filmed by U.S. conservationists in the Republic of Congo, a gorilla nicknamed Leah stepped into the pool but found herself waist deep after a few steps.

So she climbed out, found a straight branch from a nearby tree and then went back into the pool using the stick to test the depth of the water.

She carried on for around 30 feet, using the branch as a walking stick for support, before returning back to her wailing infant on the shore.

Another gorilla nicknamed Efi used a long straight branch to dig for herbs and as she moved around, used the same wood as a bridge over muddy ground.

Experts said the pictures could shed valuable new light on the common ancestry shared by humans and gorillas eight million years ago. Thomas Bauer of the Wildlife Conservation Society, based at Bronx Zoo in New York, said: 'This is a truly astounding discovery. Tool usage in wild apes provides us with valuable insights into the evolution of our own species and abilities of other species.

'We have now seen tool use in all types of ape so we think it evolved in all the separate lineages. That does not happen too often in nature so it may be that tool use has been there before our species separated from the great apes.' Although the two gorillas seen using tools were both female, Dr Bauer declined to give an opinion on whether this proved women are the smarter sex.

' We have been observing gorillas for ten years and we have seen just two cases so that is too few to be able to speculate on that,' he said.

The breakthrough was reported in the the journal PLoS Biology. P r o f e s s o r Andrew Whiton, a primate expert at St Andrews University, said: 'It really is a remarkable set of observations.

'Gorillas have been studied in the wild for decades and it was noticeable they did not seem predisposed to tool use in the same way as chimpanzees.

'Using tools in this way, such as a walking stick, is very innovative and indicates intelligence, which fits with what we know about gorillas.'

The closest relative to humans is the chimpanzee, with whom we shared a common ancestor around six million years ago. But two million years further back, it is thought, we also shared an ancestor with the gorilla.

In a further insight into human development, scientists yesterday said that an increase in oxygen levels could have given mammals the boost they needed to take over the Earth.

When dinosaurs ruled the world, oxygen made up 10 per cent of the atmosphere but this rose to 17 per cent 50 million years ago and 23 per cent 40 million years ago.

This was the same time as the small mammals began to grow and diversify. Experts therefore believe the increase in oxygen could have allowed mammals to become very big, paving the way for all subsequent large mammals including Man.


My note or opinion...
 
Trees and plants have just as much intelligence as an Ape.
A Maple tree makes its seed with wings so it can fall strait down to the earth and reproduce itself...a Dandilion makes its seed like a little parachute and the wind takes it and spreads it all over the place so it can reproduce. So the question remains, how does a tree or plant know that there is wind and earth?   ...Intelligent Design...

If a tree is going to use its intelligence, we should use ours as well  ;D

God bless

I disagree with the "Intelligent Design" theory in that it still attempts to use the old earth age theory and many other such things as evolution theory does.

As for animal intelligence versus plant intelligence ....

Animals do have a certain amount of intelligence that plants do not. They are able to learn through trial and error to some degree where plants do not use this technique for learning. Animals can also learn to some degree through mimicing people.

I have seen dogs that watched people turn a door knob and pull a door open that swings toward them, then the dogs did the same thing. When left on their own cognizance a dog can and will push a door open but does not pull one open that swings inward toward the animal.

None of an animals ability to do these things proves evolution at all. It proves that God provided these animals with a certain level of learning intelligence.

Sorry bout the "Intelligent Design" theory, this is something new to me, and i did'nt read up much about it...does'nt mean we cant use the word  "Intelligent Design" I know who my designer is. But yes, i do agree with your comments ... Thanks Brother Roger.

God bless

Amen AJ, He is the disgner of all that was, is and will be.

No problem on the use of Intelligent Design. I didn't think that you understood exactly what ID teaches. It is nothing more than a week attempt to try to satisfy everyone, a compromise.

Calling a tree branch that has not been carved or shaped a tool is a stretch. I suggest that those who believe in evolution say at the age of maybe 75 revert back to the gorillas they think they came from.

They don't?   ;) ;D ;D

Gorillas would reject them as their off spring. They aren't intelligent enough.

I know that, you know that, but the monkeys don't. ;D