[Previous entry: "Yo, Rocco!"] [Next entry: "Reason To Be Grateful"]
06/17/2008: "Fishing In Your Genes?"
Those of us who love to fish can find ourselves at a loss sometimes when asked to describe why we fish. We talk of the beauty, and the tranquility, and the excitement, and all those things that we enjoy about fishing - but it's hard to say just why we feel almost compelled to fish. Perhaps that compunction goes deeper than any of us realized ...
Primate researchers in Thailand have found monkeys that appear to have learned how to fish for their food. While not a common behavior, the long-tailed macaques have taught themselves to reach in the water and scoop out small fish.
"It's exciting that after such a long time you see new behavior," said Erik Meijaard, one of the authors of a study on fishing macaques that appeared in last month's International Journal of Primatology. "It's an indication of how little we know about the species."
Meijaard, a senior science adviser at The Nature Conservancy, said it was unclear what prompted the long-tailed macaques to go fishing. But he said it showed a side of the monkeys that is well-known to researchers - an ability to adapt to the changing environment and shifting food sources.
"They are a survivor species, which has the knowledge to cope with difficult conditions," Meijaard said Tuesday. "This behavior potentially symbolizes that ecological flexibility."
Sure, they have opposable thumbs, but can they wrap a billfish? 
