美國《公共科學圖書館·綜合》（PLoS ONE）3月10日刊出的一份研究報告說,，母猴能教幼猴用工具刷牙,。
日本京都大學靈長類研究所教授正高信男帶領研究小組,，對泰國中部一處寺院附近的大約250只野生食蟹猴進行了一個月觀察,。當地人介紹說,，這個猴群中的一些猴子可能從10年前就會用撿到的人類頭發(fā)當牙線,，清潔牙齒縫隙,。
研究小組將猴群中的7只母猴作為特殊觀察目標,，計算它們將頭發(fā)放入口中的次數和摩擦牙齒的時間。結果發(fā)現,，當幼猴在眼前時,，母猴將頭發(fā)放入嘴里的次數比平時多一倍，用頭發(fā)摩擦牙齒的時間更長,，且動作幅度更夸張,。
研究小組指出，這是首次在野生猴群中發(fā)現雌性教后代使用工具,。
正高信男說,，研究人員對“幼猴會盯著母親刷牙的動作”感到吃驚，今后將繼續(xù)跟蹤觀察母猴“刷牙教育”的效果如何,。
研究人員說,，之前有研究發(fā)現，幼年大猩猩和日本獼猴分別會用草從蟻穴中釣白蟻,、在海水里清洗土豆,，但這些行為通常被認為是幼崽簡單模仿母親的動作。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
PLoS ONE 4(3): e4768. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004768
Free-Ranging Macaque Mothers Exaggerate Tool-Using Behavior when Observed by Offspring
Nobuo Masataka1*, Hiroki Koda1, Nontakorn Urasopon2¤, Kunio Watanabe1
1 Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Japan, 2 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ubon Rajathanee University, Bangkok, Thailand
The population-level use of tools has been reported in various animals. Nonetheless, how tool use might spread throughout a population is still an open question. In order to answer that, we observed the behavior of inserting human hair or human-hair-like material between their teeth as if they were using dental floss in a group of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in Thailand. The observation was undertaken by video-recording the tool-use of 7 adult females who were rearing 1-year-old infants, using the focal-animal-sampling method. When the data recorded were analyzed separately according to the presence/absence of the infant of the target animal in the target animal's proximity, the pattern of the tool-using action of long-tailed adult female macaques under our observation changed in the presence of the infant as compared with that in the absence of the infant so that the stream of tool-using action was punctuated by more pauses, repeated more often, and performed for a longer period during each bout in the presence of the infant. We interpret this as evidence for the possibility that they exaggerate their action in tool-using so as to facilitate the learning of the action by their own infants.
