The naked ape is often set apart from the other animals. We alone can forge tools, build structures and change our environment. Piffle. The animal kingdom is full of examples of biological innovations that match, and predate our own.
Agriculture: Humans only got serious about farming some 12,000 years ago, where before we had been hunter-gatherers. The settled way of life led to the first cities and the rise of civilization. It was an immense shift in the human condition. But the social insects beat us to it by millions of years. Leafcutter ants get their name from their keenness for cutting up leaves. They don’t eat them. Rather, the salad is transported back to the nest where it is processed and deposited on a fungus. The fungus absorbs chemicals from the leaves, causing it to swell with protein and sugar. The ants live off this stuff, and will defend the crop from aggressors. They even use a form of pesticide. Ants working in the fungal garden are coated in a white dusting of bacteria. The bacteria secrete antibiotics, killing off any mould that enters the nest. Hundreds of ant species, and a few termites, indulge in agricultural behaviour of some kind.
Anaesthetic: Humans developed the first effective anaesthetics in the mid-19th century. The spider wasp got there millions of years ago. This family of wasps includes some 5,000 species, all of which are able to paralyze spiders with their sting. The tarantula hawk wasp lives up to its name by taking down tarantulas (though not hawks). Its eight-legged victim is dragged back to the wasp’s lair and anointed with a single egg. The emergent larva tunnels into the spider, which remains paralyzed as it is eaten alive. Humans do not feel an anaesthetic effect when stung by this wasp. Rather, the prick is said to be among the most excruciating pains imaginable.
Diving bell: Until the invention of the pressurized submersible in the late 19th century, the only way to get down to the seabed was to either drown or use a diving bell. The latter, a large, upturned barrel full of air, has been used since ancient times but is prone to accidents. One arachnid uses a similar strategy to remain submerged for much of its life. The appropriately named diving bell spider first builds a silken bell beneath the water. It then returns to the surface and traps air in the hairs of its abdomen. The spider dives and deposits its airy load into the silken bell. After a few trips to the surface and back, the underwater lair contains its own private atmosphere, which can keep the spider going for days.
Drum: Many birds are appreciated for their song, but one species is known to tap out a rhythm with a stick. The palm cockatoo of northern Australia is the only species, other than humans, known to make and use a musical instrument. Male birds tap out rhythms with specially prepared twigs as part of their mating ritual. Even chimpanzees do not use tools in this way.
Fire: Salamanders have been associated with fire since time immemorial. According to an old and common belief, the amphibians can withstand any heat, and are even nourished by the flame. The fire fallacy was believed and perpetuated by many great thinkers, including Pliny, Rashi, St Augustine, Paracelsus and even Leonardo da Vinci. It probably originates from the creature’s habit of hibernating under logs, which were then used on fires. But there is one animal that does seem to use fire to its advantage, and this is the black kite or ‘firehawk’ of Australia. These birds are often seen around wild fires, picking off small animals and insects as they flee the flames. Local folklore provides anecdotal evidence that the birds have learned to start new fires by carrying smouldering sticks to untouched grass, thereby flushing out further prey. The behaviour has always proved elusive to science, but recent footage shows a kite picking up a fiery stick thrown by a human. The firehawk can be considered the only animal besides humans able to harness fire.
Paper: No animal other than humans has developed a written language, of course, but one creature can make the raw materials. The paper wasp, a family of some 300 species, builds its nest from dead wood and saliva. The pulp dries to form a substance very similar to the paper in this book. [Note to self: ingenious idea for children’s book. A paper wasp, on behalf of all the animals, teams up with an ink-producing squid and a quill-supplying bird to write a ‘Please stop killing the planet’ plea to humans.]
Sewing: The origins of sewing are impossible to pinpoint. The animal hides of the Paleolithic wardrobe have long since disintegrated, along with the early stitches that held them together. The oldest known needle, from Siberia, is thought to be some 50,000 years old (and, intriguingly, formed by an extinct form of humans known as Denisovans, rather than our own species). The tailorbird, found throughout Asia, no doubt has precedence on the invention by millennia. The grey-green songbird builds a nest cradle by perforating leaves with its beak before threading the holes together with either plant fibres or spider silk. The resulting stitches look remarkably human. The weaver birds of Africa go still further. As the name suggests, they are able to weave elaborate nests from plant matter. One species, the sociable weaver, creates the avian equivalent of an apartment block. These communal nests can accommodate over 100 pairs, along with many species of squatter. The woven nests can last for many decades. Weaver ants can pull a similar trick, using larval silk to stitch together sizeable leaf nests.
Sonar: Bouncing sound waves off objects to reveal their presence and distance is an early 20th-century invention. In fact, humans developed the technology before we realized that bats, dolphins and other animals had been doing just this for millions of years.
Warfare: We began with ants and we end with ants, if only for reasons alphabetical. This versatile group has all the trappings of civilization with their hierarchical nests, agriculture and weaving skills. Like any civilization, the insects have a darker side, too. All-out war. Some ant species will attack any nearby colony, whether it is the same species or another. The fighters use a range of methods to kill the enemy, from physical biting to chemical warfare. Some of these battles are epic. When tropical leafcutter ants meet army ants, the casualties can run into millions, in a battle that can last for days. When somebody sagely tells you that humans are the only animal that kills its own kind, they couldn’t be more wrong.