Darwin's theory is still heavily criticized: "Why don't modern apes evolve?" But in our time, scientists note very remarkable events in the animal kingdom, which confirm Darwin's ideas.
FOREST PEOPLE
Orangutans are the closest relatives of humans. They migrated from Africa and reached Southeast Asia 15 million years earlier than humans. Orang Hutan is translated from Malay as "forest man". It is interesting that the farmers of the island of Sumatra call this not only monkeys, but also primitive tribes, such as Cuba. By the way, for comparison: orangutans in the wild live for about 30 years, females reach sexual maturity at 8-12 years; and for wandering primitive tribes from Sumatra like Cuba, the average life expectancy is about the same - 30 years, and girls get married at 10, since by the age of 20 they already become old women! In a word, primitive people today are not far from our smaller brothers. But orangutans in captivity beat all records for life expectancy among primates, second only to humans - they can live up to 60 years.
Dutch ecologist Willie Smith, in The Jungle Thinkers, notes that orangutans are smart enough to imitate humans. Having seen enough of the fishermen with fishing rods, the monkeys also began to try to fish, picking up the equipment abandoned by people. So, according to the observations of Smits, one male guessed to use a pole left by a man as a spear. He climbed onto branches hanging above the water and tried to pierce the fish floating below with a stick. Alas, he did not succeed in catching fish in this way, but his efforts were not wasted: with the help of a pole, the orangutan successfully fished out the fruits that fell into the river.
And this is by no means the only case! Monkeys adapt stones, sticks and other improvised means as tools of labor. For example, researchers recently discovered that chimpanzees in Africa have come up with the idea of using a spear for hunting!
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All this strikingly resembles the early steps of Homo sapiens. And in captivity, monkeys even begin to draw - albeit primitive, but still!
BECAUSE OF POWER AND WOMEN
There is a widespread belief that only humans can kill for fun or gain, while animals kill in defense or hunting. However, killings within the same species or flock occur from time to time in nature. But among the monkeys there is a species that has not yet been seen in such activities. These are miriks, who were even nicknamed hippie monkeys for their peaceful disposition. But that was until recently. The unusual discovery was reported by zoologists from the University of São Paulo. The "criminal" incident happened in the south of the state of Sao Paulo. Miriki demonstrated an unprecedented act of aggression towards a tribesman: a "gang" of nine monkeys attacked a male from their tribe and bit him. The unfortunate man died of bleeding. What's the matter? Why did the miriks go berserk?
Biologists believe that the reason lies in the changed conditions of life. It should be clarified that there are two types of Miriks - northern and southern (the attack took place in a group of southern Miriks). So, comparing southerners with northerners, scientists have found an explanation for the outbreak of aggression. Northern Miriks feed mainly on leaves. They slowly wander in large groups, in which males and females are approximately equally divided, eating abundant greens. Miriks are polygamous, and females in such groups are almost always available for mating.
For the southern Miriks, it is difficult to get food. In the south, sweet fruits are much more common, but you still need to crawl well after them. Because of this, females are often separated from their fellow tribesmen in search of tasty fruits, and therefore become less accessible to males. And the absence of partners creates tension and generates aggression. And since Mirik males spend a lot of time in the family - with brothers and other males, close relatives - these well-knit groups become the basis of "gangs".
The multiple superiority of the attackers, guaranteeing minimal risk for the aggressors, turned out to be very similar to the pattern of attacks in chimpanzees (and not only in them). All this, according to scientists, testifies in favor of the hypothesis that the excess of power, multiplied by the competition in mating, leads to intraspecific killings in primates such as mirikas, chimpanzees and … humans. That's it!
SANTINO JULIGAN
And here is another example of the astonishing sharpness of the monkeys. Swedish scientists have found evidence that a chimpanzee named Santino, who lived in a zoo in the Swedish city of Gavle, could plan certain actions for the future. When Santino began throwing stones at visitors and zoo attendants, it did not really surprise people: after all, he is the dominant male, this behavior is natural for him. Scientists were interested in something else: where does the monkey get the projectiles from when people appear on the horizon. Everything became clear when the zoo staff conducted a kind of search of Santino's property and found a storehouse of stones. It turned out that the bully was collecting stones and hiding them in a hiding place to be ready for an attack when people were nearby.
Fortunately, Santino was not a very good marksman, so his shells did not cause serious harm to anyone. But the behavior of the monkey led scientists to the conclusion that intentionality is not unique to humans. Chimpanzees are also capable of forward planning and have an understanding of the temporal categories of the past and future.
Even more surprising, Santino was preparing the attacks in secret from the zoo attendants. According to Matthias Oswat, a scientist at the University of Lund who conducted the research, Santino behaved very carefully: as soon as he noticed that he was being watched, he stopped collecting stones and assumed the most innocent appearance.
Moreover, when Santino was preparing for future acts - that is, he collected and hid the projectiles - he was in an absolutely calm state, but when he began to throw victims, he was incredibly excited. This can serve as evidence of the extremely developed consciousness in chimpanzees.
As it turned out, they can analyze the past and the future and simulate the events that will take place. According to the scientist, chimpanzees in nature should plan their actions even better, since it is associated with survival in difficult conditions.
THEY MAKE CONCLUSIONS
Nonsense, skeptics will say. Draw conclusions about the advancedness of chimpanzees based on observations of some sort of Santino! He lives in the zoo, so he got the hang of it. Good. Then here's another example. Scientists at the Italian Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technology conducted a study directly in the jungle of Brazil. The object of the study were capuchin monkeys. In order to break, for example, a nut, the Capuchins use stones. Scientists observed the actions of eight monkeys, which were tossed with stones of various sizes, shapes, hardness and density.
It turned out that the Capuchins did not grab the first cobblestone they came across, but were looking for the most suitable one. Ten tests were carried out. First, the monkeys were given a choice between large and small pieces of quartzite. Then the alternative consisted of two stones of the same size, one of which was hard hard quartzite, and the other was softer sandstone. The third through fifth test options included a choice of two or three artificial stones (but they looked like real ones and were quite hard). Namely: a pair of stones of the same size, but different weights; a pair consisting of a large but light stone and a small but heavy one; finally, the three - big light, small light and big heavy stones.
Before choosing the most successful option (the hardest and heaviest cobblestone), the monkeys touched the stones. Having chosen, they attributed the instrument to a log lying nearby, which served as an anvil. Then they put a nut in a suitable recess and break it.
In four out of five initial tests, the Capuchins chose the best stone 90% of the time. The share of the correct choice decreased slightly (to 85%) only in the fifth test, where it was necessary to compare artificial stones of the same size, but different density and weight, unfamiliar to them.
Moreover, if with natural tools the monkeys made a choice very quickly (they chose the most suitable stone by eye), then in the case of artificial stones, before choosing, the Capuchins took stones, trying to estimate how heavy they were, or knocked them on something. trying to see if they are suitable for the role of hammers.
The study authors report that since the last common ancestor of Capuchins and humans lived about 35 million years ago, the potential for using stone tools developed in primates (a common order for apes and humans) earlier than scientists had previously believed. Biologists say that Capuchin monkeys choose their tools, obviously based on accumulated experience - therefore, they know how to remember and analyze. Of course, to the gloomy picture drawn in some science fiction films - how monkeys pre-evolved to the point that they took over the planet and enslaved people - is still far away. But let's take into account - they also know how to draw conclusions!
Georgy Tikhonov