Chris Cantell Discusses Science: New discovery in wilderness by Claudia Sonea

The International Journal of Primatology published last month a breaking discovery on long-tailed macaque monkeys made by Meijaard, a senior science adviser at The Nature Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy volunteers Anne-Marie E. Stewart, Chris H. Gordon and Philippa Schroor, and Serge Wich of the Great Ape Trust. Up to know there was widely known that the long-tailed macaques grab fruit from jungle trees or bananas from tourists, eating thus fruit and forage for crabs and insects. However, the silver-haired monkeys in Indonesia have been spotted while fishing. In the past eight years four times the monkeys were seen snatching small fish with their hands along rivers in East Kalimantan and North Sumatra provinces. Although the moment that triggered the fishing is not known, it is a clear evidence of adaptation to environment and food sources. Most of the researchers called the fishing as an isolated and rare event, but Meijaard thinks it is not so as other primates are starting to do it too. Agustin Fuentes, a University of Notre Dame anthropology professor specialized in long-tailed macaques, has also reported to have seen similar behavior in Bali, but he underlined the need of further study before a definite diagnose be attached to the discovery. Until present moment long-tailed macaques have been seen catching fish twice in 1998 during a study on orangutans, and then again in 2007. Experts in the area consider it of great importance due to the fact that it offers a new perspective on the endangered specie and restates the fact that they have more to find out about the species than they thought.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_sc/indonesia_fishing_macaques;_ylt=AvbPnIduHjcz9EZUWMrh0dOs0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.<br><br><font size=2>These news are original content from young talents around the world and are selected for you by Chris Cantell.</font><br>
edited by: Lenka Macurakova