Monkey See, Monkey Do

An interesting story from the New Scientist about macaques (no, not the George Allen sort): 

Monkeys “imitate with a purpose”, matching their behaviour to others’ as a form of social learning, researchers report.

Such mimicry has previously been seen only in great apes – including humans and chimps – but now Italian researchers have recorded wonderful footage of the phenomenon in newborn rhesus macaques.

Human newborns have a known capacity to mimic certain specific adult facial expressions, including mouth opening and tongue protrusion. The so-called imitation period lasts up to three months in human infants and two months in chimps.

It would appear to me that this same phenomenon is occuring among infants in the social media-sphere, including myself, to some extent.

 

Published by Max Kalehoff

Father, sailor and marketing executive.

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