http://www.enn.com/news/2003-09-30/s_8817.asp
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Adapted by Suzanne Ubick & Phil McKenna, edited by Kathleen M. Wong, California Academy of Sciences
[article excerpt]
Monkeys Demand Fair Treatment
A sense of justice and fair play is typically regarded as a human trait. Now Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, report that working brown capuchin monkeys will go on strike if they detect any hints of favoritism.
The researchers taught monkeys to trade plastic tokens for food. Cucumber slices proved popular as rewards — unless a neighboring monkey was given a coveted grape for similar or no work. Monkeys considering themselves shortchanged went so far as to hurl the cucumber slices out of the cage and refused to bring more tokens to the researchers.
The work stoppages were always led by females; males just ate whatever they got. Strangely, the resentful females didn't take out their anger on better-rewarded cagemates. Brosnan is now working to see if this behavior holds true with chimpanzees and other primates.
