Tools and primates: Opportunity, not necessity, is the mother of invention
A chimpanzee uses a stone to crack a nut.
When food is scarce, tool use among non-human primates does not increase. This counterintuitive finding leads researchers to suggest that the driving force behind tool use is ecological opportunity — and that the environment shapes the development of culture.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141111205906.htm
Did men evolve navigation skill to find mates? Spatial ability, roaming distance linked to number of lovers
A tribal member in Namibia surveys the landscape. A new University of Utah study of Namibia’s Twe and Tjimba tribes found new evidence that men with better spatial ability — the ability to mentally manipulate objects — roam farther than other men and have offspring with more women. The study sought to explain why men evolved better navigation skills than women.
A new study of two African tribes found evidence that men evolved better navigation ability than women because men with better spatial skills – the ability to mentally manipulate objects – can roam farther and have children with more mates.
Stannous Flouride's Book of Truthiness 