In order to capture nature in its full glory, environment and nature documentarians utilize camera drones where, chimpanzees at the Royal Burgers' Zoo in the Netherlands showed these nature voyeurs how they are smart enough to know that they are being filmed.
A Dutch television crew was trying to capture some footage at the zoo where they initially though of a clever strategy using state of the art drones carrying cameras to capture the chimps, without the knowledge of the primates. However, the chimps were proven to be smarter when they immediately grabbed branches and sticks to smash the flying drones in mid air.
A chimp called Tushi climbed up a tree, holding out some sticks to whack the drones out of place where the highly sophisticated camera equipment went spiralling and toppling down the ground. Some other chimps then inspected the camera drone out of curiosity.
Although the drone was destroyed, scientists were able to study the chimps' reactions from this crucial incident, providing clues about primate behavior.
According to co-author of the study, Jan van Hooff from the Royal Burgers' Zoo, the usage of a stick as a weapon is considered to be a unique response where it seems like a deliberate action, from deciding to collect the branch and then carrying it above the tree tops where the drone could be taken down with force.
Based on the video footage from the recovered drone, Tushi appeared to be more annoyed rather than afraid upon attacking the flying drone camera. The chimp showed a tense expression and revealed her teeth for an attack which is not common behavior for frightened chimps. This particular reaction is pivotal, as it suggests that Tushi has thought out and planned her attack and did not acted upon reflex out of fear.
When she smashed and knocked off the drone from the air, Tushi and fellow chimp, Raimee even inspected it, throwing it around for a bit until they finally lost interest and continued with their daily chimp activity.
However, scientists point out that this is not the first time that chimps were observed using tools but this incident makes for an interesting study about how chimps decide and deliberate upon using a tool to carry out an "unnatural" task for them. This also shows that chimps also possess more human like behavior than ever before.
This study is published in the journal Primates.