Flossing fashion crosses species
Published 12 March, 2009, 14:13
Japanese researchers from Kyoto University have discovered hygiene-conscious Thai monkeys apparently teaching their offsprings how to floss their teeth using human hairs.
Around 100 crab-eating macaques out of a group of approximately 250 animals have been filmed using the same flossing technique as humans.
It was also found that female monkeys, especially mothers, spend twice as much time on the activity and tend to exaggerate their gestures when their kids are around watching them.
It could mean they do it deliberately for the young to pick up the habit.
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