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Chimpanzees fish for termites with sticks, New Caledonian crows shape tools to reach prey, and sea otters crack shellfish against stones. These are genuine examples of animals using objects to solve practical problems—but tool use does not make an animal “as smart as a human,” and not every behavior in this list meets every scientific definition of a tool. Here are nine striking examples, with the useful distinction between using an object, making an implement, and building a shelter.
What counts as animal tool use?
A useful scientific definition is that an animal directly manipulates an object in a particular context to change the form, position, or condition of another object, organism, or itself. The point is the directed action and its purpose: an object is used to accomplish something, rather than merely being present. A review of aquatic animals discusses this definition and why context matters (Tool use by aquatic animals).
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Researchers also distinguish tool use from tool manufacture. An animal uses a tool when it directs an object toward a task; it manufactures one when it modifies or makes an implement for that task. A chimpanzee selecting and using a stick, for example, is using a tool; stripping the stick to make it more suitable is also modification. Tool use occurs in a broad range of animal groups, while tool makers are a smaller subset, as a comparative review of chimpanzees and New Caledonian crows explains (Is primate tool use special?).
Building a nest or shelter is related, but it is not automatically tool use under a strict definition. An animal can manipulate materials to construct something without using an implement on another object. That is why octopuses carrying shells and tailorbirds weaving nests are fascinating construction examples, but should be described with a little more care than the clearest cases of tool use.
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Which animals use or make tools?
These nine examples are arranged to move from well-established, task-specific tools to behaviors that are closer to construction. The list is illustrative, not a ranking of intelligence or a definitive catalogue of every tool-using species.
1. Chimpanzees use sticks to fish for termites
Some wild chimpanzees strip leaves or other material from a stick and use it to draw termites from a nest. The stick reaches into a narrow space the chimpanzee cannot access directly; termites cling to it, providing food. It is a clear example of an object being directed at a task, and the modification of the stick makes it an example of tool manufacture as well as use.
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Chimpanzees have a broad tool repertoire, but the details vary by task and population. A habitual behavior observed in wild communities should not be conflated with a one-off demonstration or an action taught in captivity. Comparative work also cautions against treating any one measure—such as the number of tool types—as a definitive measure of cognitive ability (the chimpanzee–crow comparison).
2. New Caledonian crows shape hooked tools
New Caledonian crows make hooked twigs and shaped leaf tools to retrieve prey from crevices. Rather than simply picking up an intact object, they modify material into an implement suited to a difficult-to-reach food source. That combination of manufacture and use makes them one of the most striking bird examples.
The comparison with chimpanzees depends on what is being counted: kinds of tools, ways of making them, the tasks they serve, or whether an animal combines tools. Those are different questions, not a single ladder with one species at the top. The available comparative review discusses these dimensions without settling a simple overall intelligence ranking between crows and apes.
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3. Bearded capuchins crack hard food with stones
Wild bearded capuchins use stones as tools, including to crack hard foods. A specific example described by the National Wildlife Federation is a black-striped capuchin using a rock to open a palm nut (Do Animals Use Tools?). The stone supplies force that the animal’s hands and teeth alone may not provide as effectively, turning a tough food into something accessible.
This case shows that a tool need not be a finely shaped object. A found stone can be useful because of its weight and hardness; tool use is about what the animal does with an object in context, not whether the object looks manufactured. The behavior is documented in wild capuchins, but the example does not mean that every capuchin uses stones or that every individual performs the same task.
4. Sumatran orangutans show that tool use is not a chimpanzee-only story
Wild tool use is documented in Sumatran orangutans. Comparative research on primate and crow tool behavior identifies orangutans among the primates that complicate the idea that sophisticated tool behavior belongs only to chimpanzees (the comparative review).
The evidence summarized here does not establish one particular orangutan tool task to describe in detail, so it is better not to attach a specific implement or purpose to this example. The broader lesson is still important: tool behavior is distributed across primate lineages, and a species’ place in a comparison changes depending on which behaviors and populations researchers examine.
5. Sea otters use stones as anvils or hammers
Sea otters can place a stone on the chest and strike hard-shelled prey against it, using the stone as an anvil. Some also use a stone as a hammer. In either case, the object helps break open prey that would otherwise be difficult to access. The aquatic-animal review describes sea otter tool use alongside other examples of animals exploiting objects in water (Tool use by aquatic animals).
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Tool use varies among individual otters; it should not be portrayed as something every sea otter does. This individual variation is a useful reminder that a species-level label does not tell you whether a particular animal has learned or will use a technique. Different access to food, experience, and local conditions can influence whether a behavior is seen.
6. Some Shark Bay dolphins forage with sea sponges
In Shark Bay, some bottlenose dolphins place a sea sponge over the beak while searching the seabed. The sponge helps protect the dolphin as it forages. This behavior is specialized rather than universal: a 2013 review reports that approximately 5% of the Shark Bay bottlenose dolphin population are “spongers.” It also reports that dolphins that use sponge tools devote approximately 96% of their foraging time to this behavior (Mann and Patterson’s aquatic-tool review).
Those figures refer to that population and the review’s study context, not to bottlenose dolphins everywhere. The behavior is socially associated with maternal transmission, making it a useful case for considering how a foraging technique may be learned and maintained. A claim about social transmission is specific to evidence for a behavior; it does not mean that every useful action is copied from another animal or that all tool behaviors form a culture.
7. Elephants use branches to shoo flies
Elephants have been reported using branches to swat or shoo flies. In this example, the branch extends the animal’s reach and helps dislodge or deter insects. It is an everyday practical use of an object, not a manufactured implement in the same sense as a crow’s shaped tool.
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The action is worth noting without turning it into proof of human-like reasoning. A useful function can be identified—moving a branch to address flies—while remaining cautious about what that alone reveals about an elephant’s thoughts. The National Wildlife Federation overview includes this example among animal tool behaviors (its overview of animal tool use).
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8. Octopuses carry coconut shells as portable shelter material
Octopuses have been observed carrying coconut shells and assembling them into a portable shelter. The shells can be transported and brought together when shelter is needed, making this a striking example of object use combined with construction. The National Wildlife Federation describes the behavior in its overview of animals that use or build with objects (Do Animals Use Tools?).
Whether to call this strict tool use depends on the definition. The octopus is manipulating objects for a practical purpose, but it is assembling a shelter rather than using an implement on a separate object. Calling it object use and shelter construction is accurate even for readers who reserve “tool” for a narrower category.
9. Tailorbirds weave leaves and spider silk into nests
Tailorbirds use leaves and spider silk in nest construction. This is an impressive example of building: the bird works with plant material and silk to make a structure. The National Wildlife Federation overview presents tailorbirds among animals that build or use objects ( Quick wins for a faster PC:
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