Jane Goodall first observed chimpanzees using tools in 1960.
At Gombe Stream in what is now Tanzania, Goodall watched a chimpanzee use a piece of grass to extract termites from a mound. The chimpanzee inserted the grass into the mound, allowed termites to cling to it, and then pulled it out to eat them. This was one of the earliest landmark observations demonstrating deliberate tool use by a non-human animal.
The discovery was especially influential because tool manufacture and use had often been treated as uniquely human abilities. Goodall’s mentor, Louis Leakey, famously emphasized how the observation changed scientific thinking about the boundaries between humans and other animals.
Goodall initially called the chimpanzee David Greybeard. She also experimented with the termite-fishing behavior herself after wondering what he was doing. Chimpanzees use many other tools, including sticks, leaves, and stones, and tool traditions can vary among different communities.