Meaningful gesture in monkeys? Investigating whether mandrills create social culture.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Human societies exhibit a rich array of gestures with cultural origins. Often these gestures are found exclusively in local populations, where their meaning has been crafted by a community into a shared convention. In nonhuman primates like African monkeys, little evidence exists for such culturally-conventionalized gestures.

Methodology/principal findings

Here I report a striking gesture unique to a single community of mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) among nineteen studied across North America, Africa, and Europe. The gesture was found within a community of 23 mandrills where individuals old and young, female and male covered their eyes with their hands for periods which could exceed 30 min, often while simultaneously raising their elbow prominently into the air. T

SUBMITTER: Laidre ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3032724 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature