An adult female chim­panzee at a sub­ter­ranean ter­mite nest divides her fish­ing probe length­wise. She pro­vides one half of her tool to her off­spring, who uses it to suc­cess­fully fish for ter­mites, and retains the other half for her own use. This strat­egy pro­duces two viable tools, which helps to buffer tool donors against the cost of trans­fer­ring a tool. (Video: Cour­tesy of Goualougo Tri­an­gle Ape Project.)

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