Making sure your offspring know how to clean their teeth

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Dus alleen kale mensen hoeven niet bang te zijn voor hun haar in de buurt
van apen ;)
Of zou borst- of ander haar ook tellen?

Groet / Cees

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7940052.stm
Making sure your offspring know how to clean their teeth appears to be as
important to monkeys as to humans.

Female monkeys in Thailand have been observed showing their young how to
floss their teeth - using human hair.

Researchers from Japan said they watched seven long-tailed macaques
cleaning the spaces between their teeth in the same manner as humans.

They spent double the amount of time flossing when they were being watched
by their infants, the team said.

This suggests the mothers were deliberately teaching their young how to
floss, Professor Nobuo Masataka of Kyoto University's Primate Research
Institute said.

"I was surprised because teaching techniques on using tools properly to a
third party are said to be an activity carried out only by humans," he
told the AFP news agency.

He said the study, carried out in Lopburi, north of Bangkok, is still in
the hypothesis stage.

"We would like to shift our focus to the baby monkeys to check whether the
mothers' actions are effectively helping them learn how to clean their
teeth," he added.

**********
Dit bericht is verzonden via de informele D66 discussielijst (D66 at nic.surfnet.nl).
Aanmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SUBSCRIBE D66 uwvoornaam uwachternaam
Afmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SIGNOFF D66
Het on-line archief is te vinden op: http://listserv.surfnet.nl/archives/d66.html
**********