27 research outputs found
Molecular characterization of hepatitis B virus in liver disease patients and asymptomatic carriers of the virus in Sudan
Object manipulation and tool use in Nicobar long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis umbrosus)
This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Springer in International Journal of Primatology on 08/09/2020, available online: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10764-020-00141-y
The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Object manipulation and tool use by non-human primates have received considerable
attention from primatologists and anthropologists, because of their broad implications
for understanding the evolution of tool use in humans. To date, however, most of the
studies on this topic have focused on apes, given their close evolutionary relationship
with humans. In contrast, fewer studies on tool use and object manipulation have been
conducted on monkeys. Documenting and studying object manipulation and tool use in
species that are more distantly related to humans can provide a broader perspective
on the evolutionary origins of this behaviour. We present a detailed description of toolaided behaviours and object manipulation by Nicobar long-tailed macaques ( Macaca
fascicularis umbrosus ) living along the coastlines of Great Nicobar Island. We made
observations from December 2018 to March 2019, using ad libitum and focal
sampling methods. We observed behaviours related to object manipulation and tool
use in six different behavioural contexts (foraging, hygiene, communication, play, selfdirected and self-hygiene behaviour) involving eight different types of objects, namely
resonance rod, play object, rolling platform, scraping tool, dental groom, pounding
substrate, leaves as grip pads and wipers, and stimulation tool. We observed that
males were involved in tool use and object manipulation more frequently than females.
Our results add to existing records of object manipulation, tool-use behaviour and tool
variants displayed by non-human primates, showing that Nicobar macaques perform
multiple and diverse tool-aided behaviours