Fishing Monkey

Long-tailed macaque monkeys are really good at finding food – be it finding fruits in the jungle or snatching one from an unsuspecting tourist – and now, scientists have discovered something new about the species: they can fish!

Groups of long-tailed macaques were observed four times over the past eight years scooping up small fish with their hands and eating them along rivers in East Kalimantan and North Sumatra provinces, according to researchers from The Nature Conservancy and the Great Ape Trust.

The species had been known to eat fruit and forage for crabs and insects, but never before fish from rivers.

"It’s exciting that after such a long time you see new behavior," said Erik Meijaard, one of the authors of a study on fishing macaques that appeared in last month’s International Journal of Primatology. "It’s an indication of how little we know about the species."

Link (Photo: Mel White / AP) – Thanks Geekazoid!

Previously on Neatorama: Orangutan Goes Spear-Fishing