significance of tools and language?

I think I have expressed in class, my disbelief that humans have only recently realized that animals are just as smart(in our own definition) as us! The significance of chimps using language and tools is that we are worried that eventually we won't have these complacent animals that we can observe and judge....! On a lighter note, it also shows us that they too are capable of decision making and cognitive thought. They recognize as we do that sometimes there are easier ways to do things with tools, and by language they are able to convey more complex ideas to other chimps so that they can pass the knowledge on to one another.