Monsters of Science: Crab-eating macaques, prominent negotiator

Discover the amazing intelligence of the crab-eating macaque in this new episode of science monsters.

The Macaque Craber. You may have never heard of his name, but there’s a good chance you’ve seen him before. Thanks to his expressive face and reputation as a thief, he became an iconic animal in Southeast Asia.

But if the animal tends to plunder, it is also an excellent negotiator with the victims of its theft, as we show in this new episode of science monsters.

Bêtes de Science, the animal intelligence podcast

You don’t have to be a fan of cute cats to agree thatIntelligence The animal field is as vast as it is wonderful and unknown. Take for example, did you know that The elephants able to differentiate between human languages? One the bird can remember Hundreds of stashes of its seeds ? Or those dung beetles Use the Milky Way for guidance ? Not that stupid, animals! If these fun facts tickle you nervous cellsWait no more: Explore the first episode of science monsters, podcast based on The Historical Record of Natalie MeyerAnd Marie read it from the channel Youtube Curiosity Box. Through the numbers, we venture to the four corners of the world to meet all kinds of amazing animals and their most interesting behaviors.

Embark on this new adventure!

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you welcome in science monsters, a Futura podcast that gives pride of place to animals. I’m Mary and in this new episode we’ll be interested in the stealing talents of crab-eating macaques.

Everyone knows the crab-eating macaque. Also called the long-tailed macaque, it is the most common monkey in Southeast Asia. Easily recognizable thanks to his reddish-gray coat and highly expressive face, this mischievous boss almost disappeared for a while. Deforestation threatens their lands, and humans have hunted them down, hunting them as a traditional treat, meal, circus monster, or even as a laboratory animal. So much so that by the end of the 2000s, it had become the best-selling mammal among an endangered species of wildlife.

Today, the crab-eating macaque does best. Well, not really. If their number has increased today, it is mainly due to their breeding in captivity. The largest program of this kind has at least 30,000 individuals, but these are intended… for animal experimentation. Especially in the field of neurosciences. Therefore, the crab-eating macaque is far from fully regaining its freedom.

But this funny boss has more than one trick up his sleeve. Because at the same time, he learned to adapt, taking advantage of the environments that humans occupy. As in the city of Lopburi, Thailand, where the police surrendered in the face of the invasion of thousands of monkeys invading the streets. Or on the island of Bali, Indonesia, where they are looking for food near the Uluwatu Temple, which is located on top of a 70-meter cliff. And it is precisely the latter, in particular, that we will focus on today. Because imagining them showing intelligence and an understanding of the human world is somewhat surprising for wild apes.

The crab-eating macaques that live near the Uluwatu Temple have already learned the art of delicate negotiation. If we are easily met by this monkey who seems wise and luxurious, then this is not so. under him ambience A calm animal, the plan is well thought out in his head. Sitting quietly on a stone parapet, one of them is doing an act. Suddenly leans forward and grabs quicklyEye Something in the hands of a passerby. glasses and cameras smart phones or even silverLearn to identify valuables lurking in the pockets and bags of tourists. Once the theft is committed, the barter phase begins. Because let’s face it, our macaque doesn’t use much of a handbag once among his family, what matters is what he can get in return.

In 95% of cases, macaques agree to return the stolen thing in exchange for little food. But there again, they don’t let themselves be fooled. Shouldn’t we also say “clever as a monkey”? The more a thing appears to be of great value, the more it will demand the quality of the reward. The animal is not deceived and knows what it wants. The researchers also observed many of these interactions, which have a lot to teach us about primate intelligence. During one of the 17-minute exchanges, the monkey stubbornly refused to return the stolen piece, believing that the offer made to him in return fell short of what he stole. At the same time, you can’t teach an old monkey how to bargain!

Scientists say that mischievous primates learn this unique behavior through experience and observation, and pass it on from generation to generation. They estimate that the Uluwatu monkeys would have learned to master negotiation more than thirty years ago to deal with the changes brought about by humans. A great example of the adaptation and cultural and economic intelligence of macaques, which researchers hope to be able to observe in increasingly complex and precise situations…with the hope of letting them breathe a little bit outside the labs. So, it is not stupid, macaques eat crab!

Thanks for watching this episode of science monsters. You can find the original record of Natalie Meyer on Futura and on podcasts on spotifyDeezer an Apple Podcast and many more. Remember to subscribe So you don’t miss a single episode and find our other audio files on Applications Favorite sound. See you in two weeks with new still amazing behaviors. Bye !

Music and sound effects :

• silly introduction And the Freedom, par Alexandre Nakarada
• diligent mongoose And the Meatballs Parade, par Kevin MacLeod

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

• Bali BaliBy Doug Maxwell and Jimmy Fontanes
• BBC sounds