You must have known that image that depicts how human evolves from monkeys into the being we are today. Although we don’t come directly from today’s monkey gene, we humans and monkeys are both considered primates. We might share some traits, so that’s why monkeys are secretly SMART! What a Planet of the Apes dejavu.
Do you ever heard of the saying, “monkey see, monkey do”? At least, these words come to life in South Kalimantan, Indonesia, when a monkey imitates a woman washing clothes. Ayu Sarasyani was preparing to do some outdoor laundry, before heading inside her house. When she went outside again, she was shocked that a monkey is doing her dirty laundry.
“I was amazed to see it was taking over my work, but I immediately went inside the house and watched from my window”, Ayu said in the Daily Mail.
The monkey might have observed Ayu washing clothes earlier, then decided to do the laundry too. The primate is seen dipping the clothes in the detergent water and scrubbing them. It is unknown why that monkey wanted to do the laundry, but you can see the determination when it tries to scrub away any soap left from the clothes.
Image source via Daily Mail
According to Ayu, monkeys usually comes in a large group in her residential. Since this laundry-monkey is alone, she thought it might have separated from the other group members. Ayu then lodges a report, informing the local authorities that if the monkey is indeed lost, the authorities can help reunite the primate with its group again.
You might have known that some monkeys use tools to work from orangutans using the stick to fish, or chimpanzees using the rock to crack nuts. Even us human-primate uses tools to work. But how about monkeys using us for their benefits?
What happened in Primate Rescue Centre in South Africa is Chino, a small brown capuchin teaching a fellow human, Louise Smith on how to crush leaves. Chino grabs any leaves it can find around the cage and put it all inside Louise’s hand. The smart primate then guides Louise’s hand to crush the leaves. It is not stated why Chino is doing what it is doing. But in personal opinion, Chino might be using Louise much bigger hand to crush more leaves for Chino’s benefits.
A male orangutan, clinging precariously to overhanging branches, flails the water with a pole, trying desperately to spear a passing fish. Image source via Daily Mail
Talking about smart monkeys, how about we make them much smarter? In July 2020, experiments were conducted on a foetal marmoset regarding the primate’s neocortex by the researchers of Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, German and Central Institute for Experimental Animals (CIEA) and the Keio University, Japan.
The neocortex is a part of the brain functions that control our cognitive abilities such as language and reasoning. Throughout the years of humans evolution, our species has developed a gene called ARHGAP11B, which triggers the stem cells that make our brain bigger. As for the foetal marmoset, after being subjected to the human gene, the marmoset’s neocortex has increased in size.
The marmoset's neocortex size increased after being subjected to the human gene, ARHGAP11B. Image source via EurekAlert
The experiment was concluded that the human gene ARHGAP11B might be responsible for the human brain's growth. But regardless, the experiment has caused some ethical concerns. This is the reason why researches have chosen marmoset in the foetal form. It is not known what will happen to the marmoset’s brain functions after birth.
Image source via Giphy
Monkeys, in my opinions, are secretly smart. They are our long loss primate relatives, separated in the path of evolution. They socialise and can show empathy to each other. They are also smart to uses tools for their benefits like we humans do. And if the marmoset from the last experiment succeeds, then maybe we might have a real Planet of the Apes happening. STAY SAFE!!!
In another parallel universe, an unlikely thief stole the phone and took a selfie of himself.
