Why does a human care about if a monkey cares about whether a human can crush leaves? For things like us primates, sometimes these things are their own reward.
Do the monkeys ever crush leaves like that for themselves? Otherwise I think that it is more likely giving him a gift, hoping that he will reciprocate by giving the monkey a treat, or maybe just pet it. The leaves just happen to be what the monkey has most easily available at the time.
Yes. What I was thinking was that people had previously given the monkeys treats by putting something in the monkey’s hand and closing its fingers, so that this is the monkey is more or less imitating something that it wants the human to do.
It is not that teaching is too complex for a monkey, it is that I don’t see what exactly it’s teaching, but I feel that I recognize what the monkey is doing as the “you keep this” gesture.
I’ve heard it said that, when cats present a kill to their owners, it’s a form of trying to teach the owner to hunt. I can only assume that some mammals will treat animals from other species as part of their tribe/pack/pride/etc if they get along well enough.
If so, I’d predict this happens more often in more social animals. So yes to lions and monkeys, no to bears and hamsters. This would suggest we’d see similar behavior from dogs, though, and I can’t think of examples of dogs trying to teach humans any skills. This is particularly damning for my hypothesis, since dogs are known for their cooperation with humans.
I can only assume that some mammals will treat animals from other species as part of their tribe/pack/pride/etc if they get along well enough.
It’s hard for me to imagine how this wouldn’t be the case. It is a highly non-trivial sensory/processing problem for a cat to look at another cat and think “This creature is a cat, just like I am a cat, therefore we should take care of each other” but, at the same time, to look at a human and think “This creature is a human, it is not like me, therefore it does not share my interests.”
This problem is especially more acute for cats than dogs, because cats don’t really form tight-knit packs, and they have less available processing power.
I’d like to see some more research on the psychology of pack behavior and how/why animals cooperate with each other though.
A monkey teaching a human how to crush leaves
Mirror neurons? Why does the monkey care about whether a human can crush leaves?
Because enjoying teaching useful stuff to people you get along with is a trait that got selected for?
Why does a human care about if a monkey cares about whether a human can crush leaves? For things like us primates, sometimes these things are their own reward.
It might simply be an interesting activity to teach a human how to crush leaves.
Do the monkeys ever crush leaves like that for themselves? Otherwise I think that it is more likely giving him a gift, hoping that he will reciprocate by giving the monkey a treat, or maybe just pet it. The leaves just happen to be what the monkey has most easily available at the time.
The monkey was folding the man’s fingers, not just handing him leaves.
If the monkey is giving a gift to incur a sense of obligation, it might be even more complex behavior than teaching.
Yes. What I was thinking was that people had previously given the monkeys treats by putting something in the monkey’s hand and closing its fingers, so that this is the monkey is more or less imitating something that it wants the human to do.
It is not that teaching is too complex for a monkey, it is that I don’t see what exactly it’s teaching, but I feel that I recognize what the monkey is doing as the “you keep this” gesture.
I’ve heard it said that, when cats present a kill to their owners, it’s a form of trying to teach the owner to hunt. I can only assume that some mammals will treat animals from other species as part of their tribe/pack/pride/etc if they get along well enough.
If so, I’d predict this happens more often in more social animals. So yes to lions and monkeys, no to bears and hamsters. This would suggest we’d see similar behavior from dogs, though, and I can’t think of examples of dogs trying to teach humans any skills. This is particularly damning for my hypothesis, since dogs are known for their cooperation with humans.
Sheep-herding rabbit—included because it’s an amazing video and who could resist, and because it’s at least an example of learning from dogs.
As for your generalization, maybe the important thing is to look at species which have to teach their young. I’m not sure how much dogs teach puppies.
Dog teaches puppy to use stairs
Your rabbit link is broken.
Fixed now.
It’s hard for me to imagine how this wouldn’t be the case. It is a highly non-trivial sensory/processing problem for a cat to look at another cat and think “This creature is a cat, just like I am a cat, therefore we should take care of each other” but, at the same time, to look at a human and think “This creature is a human, it is not like me, therefore it does not share my interests.”
This problem is especially more acute for cats than dogs, because cats don’t really form tight-knit packs, and they have less available processing power.
I’d like to see some more research on the psychology of pack behavior and how/why animals cooperate with each other though.