@article {313101, title = {Tool use for corpse cleaning in chimpanzees}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {7}, year = {2017}, month = {2017/03/13}, pages = {44091 - }, 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{\textquoteright}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{\textquoteright} death responses.

}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep44091}, url = {http://www.nature.com/articles/srep44091}, author = {van Leeuwen, Edwin J. C. and Cronin, Katherine A. and Haun, Daniel B. M.} }