A View on the News

Chimpanzees in the West African savanna are being observed making spears from sticks to hunt small animals. This is reportedly the first time scientists have seen such a thing: animals other than humans making deadly weapons.

The first article, from the Chicago Tribune, has some key news values. It definitely is timely, seeing as this was just reported. It may turn out to be an ongoing study that the public will be updated on. It definitely has an international impact, currency and necessity, although it is implied. The article doesn't really explain why it is important. The article does show that this event is unusual..for it's the first of it's kind and it was not necessarily expected.

This article can be found here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-spears23feb23,1,4250895.story?coll=chi-news-hed

The second article I looked at is from indystar.com. This article explains more of why the event is important. Like the other article shows, the event is timely and has an impact:

**So some experts said it was unclear whether it was a bit of luck or an indication that chimps have a more advanced ability to hunt than was thought.**

The article also snows that this article is unusual because it hasn't been seen to this extend up until now:

**"It's not uncommon to have chimps use tools. But to use them in the context of hunting" is nearly unheard of, said Jill Pruetz, an anthropology professor from Iowa State University who led the research team.**

The subject does have currency and necessity, arguably, because of the impact on science it may have. However, this is all implied.

This article can be found here: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070224/LOCAL17/702240468/1012

I felt that both of these articles just reported the facts, which is important and relevent. However, I think it would be more interesting if the reporters had gotten the scientists' opinions on what this means for anthropology, evolution theories and science in general. It was definitely an interesting story but I feel that the readers need to know why this is important. I took an anthropolgy course, so I can grasp the possible implications of this huge find. However, for those who don't know much about human evolution, it may be difficult to understand how huge it is.