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Animals
 monkey see monkey do




From: Leo G Simonetta <lsimonetta@my-dejanews.com>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: DOC PROJECT Japanese macaques
Date: Thu, 09 Sep 1999 12:51:35 -0400

DOC PROJECT

T. Certain tribes of Japanese macaques sift their grain in the sea

"In 1953, a one and a half year old Japanese macaque named Imo found out that she could wash off the sand from sweet potatoes by rinsing them in water before eating them. After four and a half years, 18% of the adult monkeys and 79% of the juveniles in the troop had learnt the potato washing technique by imitating Imo. In 1961, all monkeys born later than 1950 had acquired the technique except one. Masao Kawai has studied the spreading pattern for the potato-washing behavior and documented a connection with the social structure. In 1956, Imo made another invention. She found out that she could separate wheat grains from sand by dropping them into the water so that the wheat grains would float and the sand grains would sink. This invention has spread in a similar way (Kawai 1965; Watanabe 1994)."

>From Agner Fog, Ph.D. (1999) Cultural Selection ISBN 0-7923-5579-2.

Kawai, M. (1965). Newly-acquired pre-cultural behavior of the natural troop of Japanese monkeys on Koshima Islet. Primates, 6, 1-30.

Visalberghi, E. & Fragaszy, D. (1990). Food-washing behaviour in tufted capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella, and crab-eating macaques, Macaca fasicularis. Animal Behaviour, 40, 829-836.

Kawai, M., Watanabe, K. and Mori, A. (1991) Long-term Studies of the old world monkeys Pre-cultural Behaviors Observed in Free-ranging Japanese Monkeys on Koshima Islet over the Past 25 Years. Primate Report, 32, 143-155.

Nishida, T. (1986) Local traditions and cultural transmission. In: Primate Societies, eds. B.B. Smuts, D.L. Cheney, R.M. Seyfarth, R.W. Wrangham, & T.T. Struhsaker. University of Chicago Press.

--
Leo G. Simonetta


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