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Web End = Primates (2016) 57:141147 DOI 10.1007/s10329-016-0525-3
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Web End = Complex processing of prickly pear cactus (Opuntia sp.) by free-ranging long-tailed macaques: preliminary analysisfor hierarchical organisation
Amanda W. Y. Tan1 Lydia Luncz2 Michael Haslam2 Suchinda Malaivijitnond3
Michael D. Gumert1,2,3
Received: 26 January 2016 / Accepted: 12 February 2016 / Published online: 26 February 2016 Japan Monkey Centre and Springer Japan 2016
Abstract Complex food-processing techniques by gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans have allowed comparisons of complex hierarchical cognition between great apes and humans. Here, we analyse preliminary observations of free-ranging long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) (n = 3) in Thailand processing Opuntia sp. cactus fruits. From our observations, we suggest that there is potential to extend the analyses of hierarchical cognition to Old World monkeys. We found that the macaques used six behavioural sequences to obtain Opuntia fruits, remove irritant hairs from the skin of the fruits, and break open, and consume the fruits, each a unique combination of 17 action elements. Removing irritant hairs involved abrading fruits on a sand or rock substrate, and washing fruit in water. The behavioural sequences that macaques use to process Opuntia potentially show features of hierarchical organisation described in the leaf-processing behaviours of great apes. Our observations highlight the need for closer study of complex food-processing behaviour in monkeys to better understand the organisational capacities involved.
Keywords Macaca fascicularis Hierarchically
organised behaviour Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park
Thailand
Introduction
Technically difcult foods are thought to be key selection pressures for the evolution of intelligence (Russon 1998), supporting abilities to solve extractive foraging problems, and organise multi-step processing techniques efciently (Parker and Gibson 1979). Comparative study of primate food-processing techniques can therefore give us insight into cognitive capabilities across the primate lineage. Previous work on naturalistic tool use as an indicator of technical complexity in primate food-processing abilities has involved both monkeys and apes, in behaviours such as tool selection (e.g., Visalberghi et al. 2009; Gumert and Malaivijitnond 2013), multiple tool association (e.g., Sugiyama 1997), and coordinating actions, object affordances, and spatial...