Tool Use By Animals - Definition of "tool"

Definition of "tool"

The key to identifying tool use is defining what constitutes a tool. Researchers of animal behavior have arrived at different formulations.

"an object carried or maintained for future use" —Finn, Tregenza, and Norman, 2009. "the use of physical objects other than the animal's own body or appendages as a means to extend the physical influence realized by the animal" —Jones and Kamil, 1973 "An object that has been modified to fit a purpose" or "An inanimate object that one uses or modifies in some way to cause a change in the environment, thereby facilitating one's achievement of a target goal". —Hauser, 2000

Read more about this topic:  Tool Use By Animals

Famous quotes containing the words definition of, definition and/or tool:

    It is very hard to give a just definition of love. The most we can say of it is this: that in the soul, it is a desire to rule; in the spirit, it is a sympathy; and in the body, it is but a hidden and subtle desire to possess—after many mysteries—what one loves.
    François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)

    One definition of man is “an intelligence served by organs.”
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The first tool I step on
    Turned into a weapon.
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)