Clever Monkeys

The life of a monkey is full of ups and downs. Like us, monkeys form strong friendships and bitter rivalries. They fight for each other and take care of one another. And the leader of a monkey troop, when deposed, will even exhibit signs of depression. When we watch their behavior we get the sense that their emotional lives may share something in common with our own.

Monkeys have a complex social system, and they form relationships with each other on an individual basis. When they encounter each other, monkeys will remember back to past interactions. Old rivals can be greeted with rage if they swing into the wrong part of the jungle. As we see in Clever Monkeys, such skirmishes sometimes even end in death.

In Clever Monkeys, when the leader of a troop of toque macaques is killed, the others gather in silence around his body. As though they truly feel remorse, even his old rivals now seem to show their deference, tenderly touching their fallen leader.

Monkeys suffer from stress, much like we do, and often it seems to relate to social problems. For example, baboon society is extremely competitive. Males who try to move up the social ladder and fail can suffer from high blood pressure and even ulcers. But those at the top don’t necessarily have it any better: high-ranking males who fall from power often exhibit signs of depression.

A mother monkey’s attention and care during her child’s infancy has a significant impact on the young monkey’s emotional development. Infant rhesus and pigtail monkeys react to the absence of their mothers in much the way we would expect a human child to react. At first, they coo for her and search excitedly. However, after a while, they will stop playing with others and take on a slouched posture.

Excerpt from PBS Nature Documentaries
Tags: monkeys, feelings, emotions, David Attenborough, BBC Documentary