Wildlife
Tool use was once thought to be a strictly human behaviour, but it is now known that many kinds of animals use tools. These include crows, dolphins and - of course - primates such as chimpanzees. Some animals, sea otters for one, have a favourite tool that they carry about with them. Others find nearby articles such as stones, twigs or thorns, which they use and then discard. Advanced use comes about when tools are used in combination, as when chimps use both a hammer and an anvil to crack kernels.
In order to see this content you need to have an up-to-date version of Flash installed and Javascript turned on.
It's peanuts to an orangutan
Without a single zoo visitor completing the task, can an orangutan get to the treat?
Without a single zoo visitor completing the task, can an orangutan get to the treat?
Can elephants work together?
Two elephants, two pots of sun-flower seeds and a rope. Can the elephants work together to get their treat?
Two elephants, two pots of sun-flower seeds and a rope. Can the elephants work together to get their treat?
Cutlery for birds
The woodpecker finch uses a cactus spine to extract a tasty grub.
The woodpecker finch uses a cactus spine to extract a tasty grub.
Termite fishing
Gombe chimps catch tasty termites using twigs as tools.
Gombe chimps catch tasty termites using twigs as tools.
Swanscombe woman
The remains of a skull revealed an early Neanderthal ancestor that lived in Britain.
The remains of a skull reveals an early Neanderthal ancestor that lived in Britain. It is now thought that Swanscombe woman lived probably 400,000 years ago. She was a very early member of the Neanderthal lineage. This programme was first shown in 1997.
Take a trip through the natural world with our themed collections of video clips from the natural history archive.
Baby Animals
With Ooh's and Ahh's galore this video clip collection celebrates a world of adorable animal babies.
Jonathan Scott: a wild life in Africa
Jonathan Scott's unique style brings an emotional warmth and depth to the portrayal of African wildlife that has created some of TV's best-loved animal characters.
Garden birds
Nestcam close-ups, expert identification guides and specialist wildlife cameras give a privileged view of a very British obsession: garden birds.
BBC © 2012 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
Sea otter
Australopithecus
Bonobo
Bornean orangutan
Chimpanzee
Homo erectus
Human
Modern and early humans
Neanderthal
Sumatran orangutan
Tufted capuchin
African bush elephant
Forest elephant
Common bottlenose dolphin
Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin
Carrion crow
Crows and ravens
Hooded crow
Rook
Song thrush
True crows