Oxford University researchers believe they have discovered evidence that bearded capuchin monkeys have been using stone tools for centuries to open cashew shells to get to the nut. It already had been established that these monkeys use primitive tools, but the Oxford discovery suggests that the monkeys have “maintained this stone tool tradition, unchanged, for about 100 generations,” according to New Scientist.
Dorothy Fragaszy, director of UGA’s Primate Behavior Laboratory, told New Scientist we shouldn’t be surprised by the discovery.
“They have methods that work well for them, and the foods they exploit with these tools have remained the same over this period,” said Fragaszy, who also is a professor in Franklin College’s psychology department. “Why should they have modified their technology?”
