Peaceful monkeys chill out before the feeding frenzy

IF YOU think a fight is about to kick off, you might try to calm everyone down and defuse the tension. Some monkeys do the same thing.

Tufted capuchin monkeys can anticipate situations that are likely to cause fights, and pre-emptively groom each other to prevent them.

Eugenia Polizzi di Sorrentino of Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and colleagues studied a group of captive tufted capuchins. They were fed at the same time every day, leading to squabbles over the food.

The team found that the monkeys groomed each other much more in the 30 minutes before feeding time, and that this led to fewer attacks during feeding (Animal Behaviour, DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.04.008). Subordinate monkeys groomed dominants to get permission to feed next to them, and dominants groomed subordinates as a signal that they would tolerate them.

Phyllis Lee of the University of Stirling, UK, thinks the findings provide evidence that the monkeys can plan for the future. "They're anticipating a social stressor and taking action to prevent it," Lee says.

Polizzi di Sorrentino disagrees. The capuchins are anticipating a future source of stress, becoming stressed about it in advance, and then grooming each other to relieve the tension, she says.

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Posted via web from Specialist Pain Physio