Do monkeys know how much fruit your sunglasses are worth? In episode 96 of Parsing Science, we talk with Jean-Baptiste "JB" Leca from the University of Lethbridge's Department of Psychology about his field research observing interactions among macaques at a Hindu temple in Bali. There, the monkeys have learned to rob tourists of everything from smartphones to flip flops, and then barter their return to temple staff in exchange for food. His open-access article, “Acquisition of object-robbing and object/food-bartering behaviours: a culturally maintained token economy in free-ranging long-tailed macaques,” was coauthored with Noëlle Gunst, Matthew Gardiner and I. Nengah Wandia, and published on January 11, 2021 in Philosophical Transactions of the the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.Monkey Business - Jean-Baptiste "JB" LecaMonkey Business - Jean-Baptiste "JB" LecaMonkey Business - Jean-Baptiste "JB" Leca Monkey Business - Jean-Baptiste "JB" LecaMonkey Business - Jean-Baptiste "JB" LecaMonkey Business - Jean-Baptiste "JB" Leca {{svg_share_icon}}Click bottom of waveform to add your commentsSubscribe: iTunes | Google Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | RSS jQuery(document).ready(function ($){var settings_ap7683 = { design_skin: "skin-wave" ,autoplay: "off",disable_volume:"default" ,loop:"off" ,cue: "on" ,embedded: "off" ,preload_method:"metadata" ,design_animateplaypause:"default" ,skinwave_dynamicwaves:"off" ,skinwave_enableSpectrum:"off" ,skinwave_enableReflect:"on",playfrom:"off",default_volume:"default",disable_scrub:"off",soundcloud_apikey:"" ,skinwave_comments_enable:"on",settings_php_handler:window.ajaxurl,skinwave_mode:"alternate",skinwave_wave_mode:"canvas",pcm_data_try_to_generate: "on","pcm_notice": "off","notice_no_media": "on",design_color_bg: "111111",design_color_highlight: "FF4C65",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_waves_number: "3",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_waves_padding: "1",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_reflection_size: "0.25",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_mode:"normal",preview_on_hover:"off",skinwave_comments_playerid:"7683",embed_code:"",enable_embed_button:"on",php_retriever:"https://www.parsingscience.org/wp-content/plugins/dzs-zoomsounds/soundcloudretriever.php" }; try{ dzsap_init(".ap_idx_7683_39",settings_ap7683); }catch(err){ console.warn("cannot init player", err); } }); Websites and other resources

Article Highlights, Summary, Quick findings & Flashcards via ScholarcyJB's website, including photos of the robbing monkeysJB's Google Scholar profileUniversity of Lethbridge's summary of the studySample videos of monkeys robbing and bartering:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymYDfHXq4S0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhqKux-liGk

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