I have been pondering an article I read recently that was published a little over a year ago that had the provocative title of “Chimpanzees and monkeys have entered the Stone Age.”  The implication was that this is a recent accomplishment.  Reading the article, though, showed that chimpanzees in Cote d’Ivoire have been using stone tools for thousands of years.  This isn’t something new.  Macaques in Thailand can be proven to have used them for 50 years, which I will concede qualifies as a new accomplishment if that is as far back as it goes, which I highly doubt.  Capuchins in Brazil can be documented back 700 years, which is pushing it in my mind as far as the recent evolutionary progress that I was expecting. Continue reading →