Monkeys Have a Primitive Form of Wealth
Dr. Agnieszka Tymula and a team of researchers from the Sydney School of Economics conducted a research on the behavior of wealthier macaques compared to the more poor counterparts. They discovered a non-pecuniary measure of wealth through the amount of water intake a macaque had, the more water that they had, the wealthier they were. While not a direct currency the relation between those who have and those who don't can be seen. The team found that in more affluent macaques there was a positive correlation in the amount of risks that they took. This same behavior can be found in humans suggesting that there is an evolutionary link between the attitude of the macaques and humans.
"Understanding the biological mechanisms underlying risky behaviours that evolved around satiety may provide unique insights about decision-making and consumption wealth," says Tymula. Macaques are very rational, they are able to pick a better option from a selection and if there is another option that is more beneficial they will choose that option instead. Saying that when gambling for water, the macaques with a higher amount of water intake were taking more risks and choosing an option that would give a 50/50 chance to get twice the amount of water or none. While the macaques with less water intake were taking fewer risks and choosing the option to just get a set amount of water guaranteed and avoided uncertainty in their decision making. Studies in the past on how wealth effects decision making were somewhat inconclusive due to difficulties in the humans reporting in data and difficulty simulating varying wealth. This new study reveals that macaques are a good model for the human decision making mentality, allowing us to get better results in a more controlled environment.
http://phys.org/news/2013-09-monkey-business-primitive-wealth.html
I thought drinking water was nothing more than a function required to sustain life. I still think that, even after reading this post. If the "wealthy" monkey's have a 50% chance of twice the water or no water, and the regular "poor" monkeys have a 100% chance to get water without that 2x multiplier, it would lead to both monkeys getting roughly the same amount of water, although the 50% chance monkey's would have a chance of going either way, poor or wealthy. Also, why would the monkeys not just be able to hop over to the nearest stream and take a nice, long drink. I can see certain clans of monkeys accumulating more wealth than other less fortunate clans, but diversity within the clan would be small if not non existent.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, monkeys within the clan may be territorial about the water they have access too, and so lesser monkeys would have a harder time gaining access. But in that case, it's not that the monkeys are accepting getting only a set amount, it's because they aren't being allowed access by their clan member.