Scientists find monkeys who know how to fish

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Scientists find monkeys who know how to fish
By MICHAEL CASEY, AP Environmental Writer
25 minutes ago

BANGKOK, Thailand - Long-tailed macaque monkeys have a reputation for knowing how to find food — whether it be grabbing fruit from jungle trees or snatching a banana from a startled tourist.

Now, researchers say they have discovered groups of the silver-haired monkeys in Indonesia that fish.

Groups of long-tailed macaques were observed four times over the past eight years scooping up small fish with their hands and eating them along rivers in East Kalimantan and North Sumatra provinces, according to researchers from The Nature Conservancy and the Great Ape Trust.

The species had been known to eat fruit and forage for crabs and insects, but never before fish from rivers.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_sc/indonesia_fishing_macaques

[OnyxCollie]

1. This is nothing new.

Chimpy has said his biggest thrill in office is catching a perch in his lake.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4982338.stm

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. ...

:rofl: beat me to it.

[BrotherBuzz]

16. Shhh, a Secret Service frogman hooked the damn fish and tuged on the line.

Everything is faux in the Bush** administration. Shrub is a walking talking Potemkin village.

[JCMach1]

3. Here are a couple of more

[mikeytherat]

4. Whoop de do. This guy's a fisher, too, and he's a spider:

mikey_the_rat

[awoke_in_2003]

5. Give a monkey a fish

and he'll eat for a day. Teach a monkey how to fish, and he will spend all day in a boat drinking beer :)

[mikeytherat]

6. "Give a man a fish, and that man knows where to go for fish.

Teach a man to fish, and you undercut your market."

mikey_the_rat

[Kolesar]

8. Give a man a fish stick and he eats for a day

Teach a man to stick fish and he eats for a lifetime.

[ohio2007]

12. problem is.....they live in deserts...... conundrum . nt

[Kolesar]

14. What do you want? Nuance?? eom

[ohio2007]

10. Sounds like the EU fish market protectionists adage nt

[Phred42]

7. Probably what happend to the West Coast Salmon runs.

Too many damn Monkeys!

:freak:

[ohio2007]

9. Now if they could only teach people to fish instead of giving them fish for a day. nt

[NinetySix]

11. Never underestimate the power of the macaque!

[Dorian Gray]

13. That's really cool

[awoke_in_2003]

15. Sadly

We can't make the Chimp in Chief form a coherent sentence.

[sakabatou]

17. Soon, we'll have this

[slampoet]

18. Insert standard Redneck/Bass Boat joke here.

[frogcycle]

19. actually, they don't fish

they just go off and drink beer all day and come home and lie about the one that got away

[rug]

20. Next they'll be stealing our beer.

[Kokonoe]

21. Next

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zWS6KwAAmng

[KamaAina]

22. What's next? A chimp who knows how to clear brush?

:P

edit: smilie

[hvn_nbr_2]

24. And mountain bike. Don't forget the mountain biking. nt

[Pathwalker]

29. Or fall off a Segway.

[TrogL]

23. Bears do the same thing

They'll stand next to a salmon stream and scoop them up as they go by.

This is nothing new and hardly indicative of "tool using" or any other higher functionality.

[tandot]

25. this is very old news. Here is the proof:

[DemoTex]

26. Those fishing monkeys get around!

[damntexdem]

27. But have they found fish who know how to ...

monkey around?

[lonestarnot]

28. Howler monkeys in Costa Rica know how to attract fish by jumping and racketing up the trees over the

river. The junk falls in and the fish come and the smart fisherman follow the monkeys. mmmm mmmm mmm

[AlphaCentauri]

30. I see they don't fish so often, do they know about mercury in fish?