Acquisition of object-robbing and object/food-bartering behaviours: a culturally maintained token economy in free-ranging long-tailed macaques

Researchers analyzed 84 video-recorded token-robbing events and found that subadult and adult monkeys were more likely to exchange a medium-valued token for a less-preferred food reward, and that token-robbing success increased from juveniles to subadults to adults, with key behavior patterns established around 4 years old

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Findings

• Researchers analyzed 84 video-recorded token-robbing events and found that subadult and adult monkeys were more likely to exchange a medium-valued token for a less-preferred food reward, and that token-robbing success increased from juveniles to subadults to adults, with key behavior patterns established around 4 years old.