http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=363916&in_page_id=1770&expand=true#AddCommentFilmed 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
God bless
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