Picture Perfect

17 March 2011 - Adult monkeys recognise photographs of their friends, according to scientists.In an experiment, untrained Barbary macaques showed interest in the photos and spent more time scrutinising pictures of unfamiliar animals.Juvenile monkeys were fascinated but puzzled by the photographs. They often tried to greet or touch the animal in the image.The findings suggest that the primates learn with age to understand that photos are representations of faces. As well as adding to our knowledge of their intelligence, the findings, published in the journal Animal Condition could also help in future studies of primate behaviour.
Now that we know [that they spontaneously recognise photographs], we won't be limited to working in the lab and training the animals," said lead researcher Professor Julia Fischer, from the German Primate Center and Gottingen University in Germany. "We will be able to study them in a much more natural captive setting, [studying their behaviour] by designing games for them to play."She and her team observed macaques in wildlife park in Rocamadour, south-west France, where the animals are allowed to roam around an open landscape