The Ape And The Sushi Master Reflections Of A Primatologist by Franz De Waal

Author:Franz De Waal [Waal, Franz De]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 0465041760

Still Doing It

For over a quarter of a century now, the Koshima monkeys have received sweet potatoes only a couple of times per year. The food is unceremoniously dumped onto a dry section of the beach, after which there is a free-for-all. There is no selective reinforcement, no encouragement to approach the ocean, not even a need to clean the food. This is the situation most monkeys on the island have experienced all their lives. Yet, from the old to the very young, they are still doing what the late Imo began. Persistence of habits beyond the life of the initiator is one of the characteristics of culture.

Not only did Imo set things in motion on the island, she also got the juices flowing in the international scientific cornmunity. Is culture a uniquely human capacity, or are we justified in applying the concept to animals? It would indeed have been baka-rashi for Imanishi and his students to have stayed with horses while such fascinating discoveries were waiting to be made nearby.

While we were preparing to leave, the island had grown unusually quiet. All of the monkeys had settled clown on the beautifully shaped rocks to groom, or just sit and nap. Apart from the occasional tantrums associated with weaningquickly resolved by a maternal embrace-the monkeys had taken on a dreamy attitude, no doubt due to the combination of a full stomach and a setting sun. Walking on the beach, I found the scene positively surrealistic. The eerie silence was reinforced by the fact that the monkey population here competes with birds over scarce foods, and the birds have lost. Apart from one diving osprey, and the ubiquitous kites high up in the air, there was not much that flew around. But for me the air was filled with history.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.