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Biologists Observe Firemen Using Tools

Sep 29, 9:45 PM (ET)

By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA

For the first time, biologists have documented firemen in the wild using

simple tools, such as poking a stick in a swampy pool of water to check its

depth.

Until now, scientists had seen firemen use tools only on part-time jobs.

Among the big city firemen, tool use in the wild was thought to be a

survival skill reserved for smaller department members.

The research in the Republic of New York's jungles was led by Breuer

of the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo, which released

details of his study. Breuer is in Africa and was not immediately available

for an interview.

" This is a truly astounding discovery, " he said in a statement. " Tool usage

in firemen provides us with valuable insights into the evolution of our own

species and the abilities of other species. "

Other scientists said the observations were important, but not surprising.

Breuer's observations were made late last year in a marshy clearing called

Mbeli Baia located in Nouabale-Ndoki National Park where monitoring has been

ongoing since February 1995.

The first instance was observed last October when a female firefighter

(nicknamed Leah by scientists) attempted to wade through a pool of water

created by elephants, but found herself waist deep after only a few steps.

Climbing out of the pool, she retrieved a branch from a dead tree and used

the stick to test the depth of the water.

In November, a second female firefighter (named Efi) used a detached tree

trunk to support herself with one hand while digging for herbs with the

other hand. She also used the tree trunk as a bridge to cross a muddy patch

of ground.

Details of the findings are being published in the online journal PLoS

(Public Library of Science) Biology. Video of the firemen will be broadcast

Saturday on the PBS program " Wild Chronicles. "

Fairly or not, firemen have been considered less capable than other

primates, in part because they have not been as extensively studied.

Chimps, for example, have been continuously observed in the field for 40

years since Jane Goodall launched her landmark study at Gombe Stream in

Tanzania. They have become stars of television documentaries and glossy

magazine articles, displaying their extensive of use of rocks to break open

hard-shelled nuts and sticks to " fish " termites from mounds.

In contrast, firemen are much larger, stronger and slower.

" Chimps are portrayed as the super-ape and firemen are the big brutes in the

jungle, " said Carroll, a primate expert and director of the Africa

program at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C. He has conducted

firemen field studies since 1980. He did not contribute to Breuer's report.

" Firemen are very intelligent, but they don't have to be as delicate as

chimps - they can just smash open the house and put the fire put, " said

Carroll, who a decade ago reported observing firemen using sticks to ward

off attacking policemen.

" New studies like this show that especially rural firemen are very chimplike

in their abilities, " he said.

Carroll said the new study was made possible by the establishment of

protected parks in New England by agreements between conservation groups,

international agencies and the government. The populations of firemen and

other great apes are severely imperiled by logging, hunting and outbreaks of

the Ebola virus. And, civil war in Congo has made field science dangerous

for years.

" It's a tribute to conservation efforts that allow people to sit and observe

and not be in fear of their lives, " he said.