Abstract
Sweet potato washing and wheat placer mining in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) are among the most well known examples of local traditions in non-human animals. The functions of these behaviors and the mechanisms of acquisition and spread of these behaviors have been debated frequently. Prompted by animal caretaker reports that great apes [chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus), gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), and orangutans (Pongo abelii)] at Leipzig Zoo occasionally wash their food, we conducted a study of food washing behaviors that consisted of two parts. In the first part we assessed the current distribution of the behavior on the basis of caretaker reports. In the second (experimental) part, we provided subjects individually with a water basin and two types of food (apples and cereal) that was either clean or covered/mixed with sand. We found that subjects of all species (except gorillas) placed apples in the water before consumption, and that they did so more often when the apples were dirty than when they were clean. Several chimpanzees and orangutans also engaged in behaviors resembling wheat placer mining.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bermejo M, Illera G, Pí JS (1994) Animals and mushrooms consumed by bonobos (Pan paniscus): new records from Lilungu (Ikela), Zaire. Int J Primatol 16:879–898
Boesch C (2003) Is culture a golden barrier between human and chimpanzee? Evol Anthropol Issues News Rev 12:82–91
Drea CM, Wallen K (1999) Low-status monkeys “play dumb” when learning in mixed social groups. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:12965–12969
Galef BG Jr (1990) Tradition in animals: field observations and laboratory analyses. In: Bekoff M, Jamieson D (eds) Readings in animal cognition. The MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 74–95
Galef BG Jr (1992) The question of animal culture. Hum Nat 3:157–178
Galef BG Jr (2004) Approaches to the study of traditional behaviors of free-living animals. Learn Behav 32:53–61
Hanus D, Mendes N, Tennie C, Call J (2011) Comparing the performances of apes (Gorilla gorilla, Pan troglodytes, Pongo pygmaeus) and human children (Homo sapiens) in the floating peanut task. PLoS One 6:e19555. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0019555
Hirata S, Watanabe K, Kawai M (2001) “Sweet Potato Washing” revisited. In: Matsuzawa T (ed) Primate origins of human cognition and behavior. Springer, Berlin, pp 487–508
Huffman MA, Spiezio C, Sgaravatti A, Leca JB (2010) Leaf swallowing behavior in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): biased learning and the emergence of group level cultural differences. Anim Cogn 13:871–880
Itani J, Nishimura A (1973) The study of infrahuman culture in Japan. In: Menzel EW, Jr. (ed) Precultural primate behavior. Symposia of the fourth international congress of primatology, vol 1. Karger, Basel, pp 26–50
Kawai M (1965) Newly-acquired pre-cultural behavior of the natural troop of Japanese monkeys on Koshima islet. Primates 6:1–30
Kawai M, Watanabe K, Mori A (1992) Precultural behaviors observed in freeranging Japanese monkeys on Koshima islet over the past 25 years. Primate Rep 32:143–153
Kawamura S (1959) The process of sub-culture propagation among Japanese macaques. Primates 2:43–60
Kempf E (2009) Patterns of water use in primates. Folia Primatol 80:275–294
Lefebvre L (1995) Culturally-transmitted feeding behaviour in primates: evidence for accelerating learning rates. Primates 36:227–239
Lonsdorf E, Bonnie K (2010) Opportunities and constraints when studying social learning: developmental approaches and social factors. Learn Behav 38:195–205
Mendes N, Hanus D, Call J (2007) Raising the level: orangutans use water as a tool. Biol Lett 3:453–455
Morand-Ferron J, Lefebvre L, Reader SM, Sol D, Elvin S (2004) Dunking behaviour in Carib grackles. Anim Behav 68:1267–1274
Mulcahy N, Call J (2006) How great apes perform on a modified trap-tube task. Anim Cogn 9:193–199
Nahallage CAD, Huffman MA (2007) Acquisition and development of stone handling behavior in infant Japanese macaques. Behaviour 144:1193–1215
Nakamichi M, Kato E, Kojima Y, Itoigawa N (1998) Carrying and washing of grass roots by free-ranging Japanese macaques at Katsuyama. Folia Primatol 69:35–40
Nishida T (1987) Local traditions and cultural transmission. In: Smuts BB, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM, Wrangham RW, Struhsacker TT (eds) Primate societies. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 462–474
Reader SM (2004) Distinguishing social and asocial learning using diffusion dynamics. Learn Behav 32:90–104
Russon AE, Kuncoro P, Ferisa A, Handayani DP (2010) How orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) innovate for water. J Comp Psychol 124:14–28
Scheurer J, Thierry B (1985) A further food-washing tradition in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). Primates 26:491–494
Tennie C, Call J, Tomasello M (2006) Push or pull: imitation vs. emulation in great apes and human children. Ethology 112:1159–1169
Tennie C, Call J, Tomasello M (2010) Evidence for emulation in chimpanzees in social settings using the floating peanut task. PLoS One 5:e10544. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010544
Tomasello M, Call J (1997) Primate cognition. Oxford University Press, New York
Urbani B (2001) Food-washing among wedge-capped capuchin monkeys (Cebus olivaceus). Hum Evol 16:225–228
Visalberghi E, Fragaszy DM (1990) Food-washing behaviour in tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) and crabeating macaques (Macaca fascicularis). Anim Behav 40:829–836
Watanabe K (1994) Precultural behavior of Japanese macaques: longitudinal studies of the Koshima troops. In: Gardner RA, Gardner BT, Chiarelli B, Plooij FC (eds) The ethological roots of culture. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 81–94
Wheatley BP (1988) Cultural behavior and extractive foraging in Macaca fascicularis. Curr Anthropol 29:516–519
Acknowledgments
We thank Pinie Zwitserlood, Claudia Menzel, Hagen Knofe, Franziska Stock, Julia Watzek, Lena Schumacher, Daniel Gergely, Maria Schmidt, Sylvia Backhaus, Julia Löpelt, Johannes Grossmann, Sebastian Schütte, Martin Gericke, Raik Pieszek, and Daniel Hanus. We thank Victoria Vonau and Johann Wirth for reliability coding. We thank all the animal caretakers at Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center for participation in the food washing assessment and for helping with data collection. Animal husbandry and research comply with the “EAZA Minimum Standards for the Accommodation and Care of Animals in Zoos and Aquaria”, the “WAZA Ethical Guidelines for the Conduct of Research on Animals by Zoos and Aquariums” and the “Guidelines for the Treatment of Animals in Behavioral Research and Teaching” of the Association for the Study of Animal Behavior (ASAB).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Allritz, M., Tennie, C. & Call, J. Food washing and placer mining in captive great apes. Primates 54, 361–370 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-013-0355-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-013-0355-5