Collection: Tools & Machinery

This is the charm collection for all manner of miniature implements, equipment, devices and apparatus, from the simple spade to the transcendent telescope. Tools played a critical role in the evolution of man and were probably instrumental in his survival. The use of tools, requiring superior intelligence, is what separated homo sapiens from the rest of the animal kingdom. However, there are some well documented cases of animals and birds using tools, most notably among the primates. Chimpanzees have been observed using sticks to measure depth of water and as probes for the collection ants and termites, cutting down a stick with teeth and fingers until it fits into a hole in the ants' nest.