Behavior has no evolutionary objective or survival and seems to be just a fashion that has spread, as if it were a viral challenge on the internet.
On the island of Jicarón, off the coast of Panama, where there are no predators, the White-faced monkeys They are adopting unusual behavior and never before seen: Raptate babies pink monkeys and carry them as if they were accessories.
The discovery was made by a team of scientists led by behavioral ecologist Zoë Goldsborough of the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior, and was reported in a published in Current Biology magazine.
While initially studied the Use of stone tools By pregnant monkeys through hidden photographic traps, the investigators were amazed to see a male monkey called “Joker” with a baby buckle monkey clinging to their hair. Which, at first, seemed to be a strange isolated event, quickly evolved into a bizarre and repeated trend.
Over the course of 15 months, the investigators registered five male premium monkeys with 11 Bugos Bugos Apes on your lap. Note that all the pregnant monkeys involved were male and none showed signs of adopting or taking care of the babies. Babies, who are supposed to have died of hungry, were treated with minimal interaction – without care, play or protection behaviors typically associated with care.
This phenomenon does not seem to have any objective of survival. Instead, scientists believe it can represent cultural fashion – similar to human trends as viral challenges, explains the.
Unusual animal fashion, such as the or chimpanzees that put herb in the ears, have already been observed in nature. But the actions of Jicarón’s preaching monkeys are notable for the damage inflicted to another species, a behavior rarely documented as part of nonhuman culture.
Researchers suggest that this strange behavior may have arisen due to low stress atmosphere of monkeys. Without predators and with few competitors, Jicarón’s preaching monkeys lead a quiet life that can favor creativity and behavioral experimentation. In this case, however, innovation has a tragic cost for bugos babies.
“Human beings have many seemingly arbitrary cultural traditions that harm other species,” said Goldsborough. “Discovering that this type of culture can also occur in other intelligent animals that live in the right conditions It is a fascinating implication”.
