Which one of the following makes a tool with a stick to scrap insects from a hole in a tree or a log of wood?

Answer: (b) Orangutan

Orangutans strip twigs into probes to pull insects and honey out of tree holes, and use sticks to get seeds out of spiny fruit. It is learned behaviour: the young copy their mothers.

The idea

Making a tool means changing an object to do a job: breaking off a twig, stripping its leaves and using it as a probe. It needs learning and planning, and only a few animals do it.

Chimpanzee and orangutan: sticks to pull out insects and honey → Capuchin monkey: stones to crack nuts → Sea otter: stone to break shells → New Caledonian crow: shapes twigs into hooks → Egyptian vulture: drops stones on eggs

Why the others are wrong

(a) The fishing cat scoops fish out with its paws and uses no tools. It is the state animal of West Bengal.

(c) Sea otters use stones as anvils to crack shells. That is a tool, but for shellfish, not a stick for insects.

(d) Sloth bears are insect specialists, but they use their body. They blow away dust and suck termites up through a gap in their front teeth, like a vacuum cleaner.

The trap

The sloth bear is the insect-eater, which is exactly why it is the trap. The question asks who makes a TOOL, not who eats insects.

Also know

Orangutans live only in Borneo and Sumatra, and all three species are Critically Endangered, mainly because of oil-palm plantations. Chimpanzees also “fish” for termites with sticks, as Jane Goodall first reported.