Thursday, January 15, 2009

Learning from Macaques

New Kerala reports on a study of Japanese Macaques that has yielded insights into human evolution, say researchers from the Primate Research Institute in Tokyo. The story notes:

Primatologists Michael A. Huffman, Charmalie A.D. Nahallage, and Jean-Baptiste Leca from the Primate Research Institute in Kyoto, Japan, assessed social learning exhibited by these macaques during stone-handling, a behavior that has been passed down from elder to younger since it was observed in some of the troops in 1979.

Stone-handling, in this study, included rubbing and clacking stones together, pounding them onto hard surfaces, picking them up, and cuddling, carrying, pushing, rolling and throwing them.

Neat.

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