There’s nothing old-school about Old World Monkeys. They are a family of medium-to-large sized species that live in deserts, rainforests, mountains and cities. Of their many species, the lion-tailed macaque was the first to be observed performing a very human activity – manufacturing tools.
In German, these monkeys are known as Bartaffe or “beard ape”. The macaques used tools to open bottles of maple syrup, in a controlled experiment. In an experiment, the macaques were observed for 100 hours within an outdoor cafe, where a box full of jars of tempting maple syrup were left. The macaques were given browse, and long bamboo poles, from time to time.
Not too far removed from a human using a can-opener, the macaques broke apart the browse into smaller pieces which they used as leverage to enter the cage. Others used the bamboo poles as makeshift ladders – even working together to ensure they did not fall down.
In other enclosures, macaques have been seen using human trash for creative purpose. At the Chamarajendra Zoological Garden in Mysore, a macaque used a piece of discarded plastic as a makeshift mug to drink water from – reducing the amount it had to bend to access the pool. The same monkeys were also observed using coconut shells – with some treating them as their possessions, carrying the shells with them to the water bodies.
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