Cacatian, Lean Angelo D. 2013-57145
Social Climbers
We watched a
documentary about monkeys and apes having social classes just like us humans.
The documentary showed how monkeys are one of the nearest animals that could
reach our intellectual capabilities. This was showed on how they built on
socialization to be able to survive and have a stronger force that could last
and live longer compared in being alone. In order to analyze their social
structure we should first observe their actions. In the documentary there were
a lot examples showed how they were very sociable beings and live around their
social structures.
One of the ways
that monkeys socialize is using their voice. Just like humans, they can use
their voices to communicate with different monkeys in the group. One example is
of a certain species of apes that screams to know who the dominant one is. The
one who screams the loudest is the most dominant among them. They also use
their voice to help one another be safe by warning them about predators, to
protect their area with other groups of monkeys and also to have stronger bonds
within the group that they wre in.
Another way that
monkeys use to socialize with other monkeys is by grooming. A lot of monkeys use
this as a way to be close to their comrades and also to be hygienic at the same
time. One of the ways they clean themselves up is getting rid of bugs out of
their fur. This takes hours and hours of their time in order for them to clean
up another ape. Another way of them grooming is using leaves that have a
certain amount of repellant against mosquitoes. The film showed how the monkeys
could differentiate a normal trunk of leaves from a certain kind of leaves that
has this repellant and when they finally got a hold of the leaves they share it
with their fellow monkeys for them to have a guard against external forces
prevented by the leaves’ content.
In the
documentary they also showed how these monkeys could imitate different kind of
movements and skills so that they form a culture that transcends to different
generations of monkeys. One example is the art of cracking a nut that a certain
species monkey uses. The monkeys use wood to pound the nut and open it, while
other monkeys are experts of cracking a nut the others would try to imitate
them and get the hang of it but according to the documentary a monkey should be
at a certain age in order for it to acquire a new skills such as cracking a
nut.
With this in
mind we could definitely conclude that monkeys are very sociable creatures. They
would have hard time climbing the food chain without first building themselves
in their own social structures. I really learned a lot from this documentary
and it made me wonder if these monkeys could become more like us in the future.
References:
”Monkey
Social Structures”. Accessed May 9, 2014.
http://www.monkeyworlds.com/monkey-social-structure/
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