It's one thing to recognize your childhood home when you see it in a photograph and quite another to accurately describe or draw a picture of it based on your recollection of how it looked. Researchers have found some of the first clear evidence that monkeys, like humans, have the capacity for both forms of memory. The researchers found that rhesus monkeys can flexibly recall extremely simple shapes from memory. Recall shows an ability to remember things that are not present in the moment, the researchers explained. Recall is necessary for planning and imagining and can increase the flexibility of navigation, social behavior, and other cognitive skills. The ability of monkeys to recall these shapes flexibly suggests that they might be able to recollect other types of information that would be useful to them in the wild. The researchers say that the ability of rhesus monkeys to recall what they've seen in the past suggests that the ability to recollect does not depend on language and may have been present in our common ancestor 30 million years ago.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110428123934.htm
ReplyDeleteIt is said that monkeys are alike to humans! I do believe monkeys can recall information, but I also believe dogs or cats can too. When my dog sees the bag of treats that I gave him 2 weeks ago, he goes crazy. He can recall what was in that bag! I dont know if scientists are saying that monkeys can trace back and recall information from way back, but I don't think just monkeys can recall information.
ReplyDeleteWow! That is soooo neat! Monkeys have always been compared to humans, and have been said to only lack one chromosome that is present in the human body! So we are really more like animals than we think we are! That is so amazing that an animal, who many humans see as inferior can recall data, just like the most "supreme race"....humans. It really shows that there is a link between all animals and humans, and it really proves a point that no animal is really less than a human, because, we all share the same kinds of traits. I believe that the more we study this, the more we will find out that animals know more, than we really give them credit for. I think that this is an amazing find, and it can only lead to good things in the future!
ReplyDeleteI don't really know much about monkeys but if you work with any animal long enough it is more likely that the animal is going to remember what you were trying to teach them. So i don't think that it is just monkeys that can do this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ellen, my dog does the same thing! I believe that all animals can do that, in some way atleast. Maybe monkeys can remember what they have seen farther back more than others. This is so interesting that they can do this though.
ReplyDeleteThis is cool, I had seen something about this a frew weeks ago on the news. But we did come from monkeys so that explains some of it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how this is related to environmental science, but it's awesome. I hope we keep finding out awesome stuff about monkeys.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ellen. Animals are probably a lot smarter than we are. At least a lot smarter than we give them credit for
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