Ecology of culture: do environmental factors influence foraging tool use in wild chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes verus?

► We examined the influence of environmental conditions on chimpanzee foraging tool use. ► We tested predictions of the opportunity and necessity hypotheses. ► Ecological opportunity explained presence and absence of tool use variants. ► Food scarcity did not lead to an increase in feeding tool use. ► Our study highlights the interplay between environment and culture.