PRIMATES, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1965

Newly-acquired Pre-cultural Behavior of
the Natural Troop of Japanese Monkeys
on Koshima Islet
MASA0 KAWAIThe Japan Monkey Centre, Aichi

INTR OD UC TION
The problem of pre-culture in the society of Japanese monkeys (Macaca,/hscata) was first discussed and given a theoretical interpretation by K. Imanishi(1952). Since then the Primates Research Group has collected various kindsof data. A general view on the pre-culture* of Japanese monkeys was given
by S. Kawamura (1956, '58, '59 and '64).
Sweet-potato washing is an example of pre-culture characteristic of thetroop of monkeys in Koshima (a small islet in Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu).
This was already reported by Kawamura (1954, '56, '58, '59, and '64), D. Miyadi(1959), and Kawai (1964). Kawamura and I observed the habit of sweet-potato
washing occurred in the Koshima troop in 1953, and since then I have paid
much attention to observing the pre-cuhural phenomena (Kawai 1964 a, b).
Besides the sweet-potato washing behavior, the Koshima troop acquired
some other new behaviors, which can be regarded as the pre-culture peculiar to
the troop. I would like to discuss here the sweet-potato washing pre-culture andthe new pre-cultural phenomena, especially, their process of acquisition andpropagation, their causes, and finally, the meaning of these pre-cultures.
Before proceeding into the report, I should like to show my gratitude forthe valuable advice and friendship of those who have long been with me instudying the Koshima Troop: Dr. Syunzo Kawamura of Osaka City University, Dr. Kisaburo Tokuda of Wakayama University, and Dr. Junichiro Itaniof Kyoto University. For receiving valuable data and information my thanks
go to Mr. Shigeru Azuma, Mr. Kenji Yoshiba of the J a p a n Monkey Centre,
Mrs. Satsue Mito and Mr. Iwasuke Tokito. Furthermore, to Professors
Denzaburo Miyadi and Kinji Imanishi of Kyoto University, under whose
guidance I have long been, I would like to express my gratitude.
* S. Kawamura and KI Imanishi use the word "sub-culture" instead of pre-cu ture.
In this paper I will use the latter.

2m. KAWAI

5 4
0 1
1 0
-3 ~ -

Utsubo8

Uba+%

Nod

1949

Fig. 1 The Lineage ofI1950 ( G o s u ~ LtheKoshima1951
Troop (As of
Aug. 1962)_2 1 1952( ) : solitary monkeys 1 0 1953
: SPW monkey
2 0 1954[~7] : WW monkey
1955/~;~_J: originator~ of
0
tSPW & W W behavior 2 3 1956
Ham#
@ : the monkey-~--~1957
began SPW behavior - - in 1959
2 1 1958
H2 ;/6~1] : the monkey
2 3 1959
began WW behavior - 4 2 - 1960
asu8
in 1961[~]* : the monkey
1 l ;961
began Snatching
8 1 1962 Masu$
Hata$behavior in 1962 35 25 Total
1" : diedI

Zab0n2

U Nofuj !~

I
[]

t

Nobor__~L~

Bora$ Zari$ N4

The Koshima Troop
The Koshima troop, surveyed for the first time in I948 by Drs. Imanishi,
Itani, and Kawamura, was provisionized in 1952 (Itani and Tokuda
1958). At that time there were twenty monkeys in all, but in 1962 the number
increased to 59". As a result of the consecutive observations of the troop by
several researchers, lineages of the monkeys have been made clear (Fig. 1).
The knowledge of lineages has brought tremendous fruits to the sociologicalstudy of the troop, and enabled us to analyze fully the problem of pre-culture.
I.

SWEET-POTATOWASHING(SPW) BEIIAVIOR

1. Acquisition of SPW Behavior
Sweet-potato Washing Behavior is a behavior in which monkeys take thesweet-potato to the edge of the water and wash off the sand on the potato bywater. Monkeys dip the potato in water by holding it in one hand) and thenremove the sand by brushing the potato with the other hand. This SPW*

Gosuke, which is believed to be dead in about

1959, is not included here.

Pre-cultural Behavior of Japanese Monkeys

3

@
Nami$

Eba$

Io0+~
I

Na'tsu$ ](® E~*
Sango?

@
Semushi$~)

M8(2goSE~,)(.$)
Ts_k____ba$--Nashi~
t-

lk

J~

Ebi$

Namako~Namazu8~akL ~]$ ~games
Sakak;?

Satsuki$?lruka$K uS

Males born before 1949:

Tsug~

Eso 8
Eboshi$

Tsuga$

Edo$

Tsushi$ ,Kaminari (Leader)
Akakin (Leader)
Mobo (Sub-leader)
HGoshimaru(llanakake)b e h a v i o r was b e g u n in S e p t c m b e r , 1953 b y a f e m a l e n a m c d Imo', o n e a n d a h a l f
y e a r s o l d at t h a t t i m e . * T h i s b e h a v i o r s p r e a d to o t h e r s g r a d u a l l y , a n d b y1956 e l e v e n m o n k e y s a c q u i r e d it. T h e p r o c e s s o f p r o p a g a t i o n o f this b e h a v i o r
u n t i l 1956 w a s r e p o r t e d b y K a w a m u r a(1954, '56) a n d M i y a d i (1959).
' F a b l e 1 shows t h o s e m o n k e y s w h o a c q u i r e d tile b e h a v i o r d u r i n g t h e p e r i o d
f r o m 1953 to M a r c h 1958. T w o o f t h e 11 a d u l t s (6 m a l e s a n d 5 f e m a l e s ) ,t h a t is, 1 8 . 1 % a c q u i r e d S P W b e h a v i o r , a n d 15 o f 19 m o n k e y s , a g e d b e t w e e nt w o a n d seven (10 m a l e s a n d 9 f e m a l e s ) , t h a t is, 78.97{), a c q u i r e d also t h ebehavior.*****To all the monkeys of Koshima are given names and numbers. Numbers from 1 to 99
are given to males, three figures to females. To those who were born after 1953, numbers
are given according to the order of their birth. The identical initial letters of names
indicate, as a general rule, the mother-child and brother-sister relationships. For example,
the children of Eba' are named Ei', Enoki', Ego'. Signs on the right shoulder of names
show either sex; A" is male and A' is female.
Kawamura reported in 1954 that JVaki" had shown SPW behavior, but in the reportof 1956 he excluded Naki'. Having never seen Naki" do SPW behavior since 1953, I
omitted Naki" from monkeys of SPW behavior.

4

M. KAWAI
T a b l e 1.

T h e Year a n d Age W h e n S P W Monkeys A c q u i r e d SPW Behavior
Age
-

/

Year
1953
'54
'55
'56
'57
'58

1-1.5

2-2.5

3

Imo'

Semushi"5---. Total No.

6

adult

Eba'

Uni"

1

El"

Nomi"

Sasa'

Jugo"

Kon"

Sango', Aome'

Hama', Enoki'

Harajiro'

Nami'

Zabon', Nogi'
Total

$

6

5

1

2

1

2

2

3

1

0

0

0

4

2

0

2

1

2

Fig. 2of monkeys
3
3
4
4
2
17
6
11

Age w h e n monkeys b e g a n S P W b e h a v i o r a n d n u m b e rof S P W monkey~~: Male6: Female
5

~4
~3

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

adult

~- A 3 eBy the surveys made in December 1961 and J a n u a r y 1962, almost allmonkeys, excepting those adults born before 1950, were observed performing
SPW behavior. In August 1962 the same result was observed. As of thelast date, 36 monkeys out of 49 monkeys above two years old did SPW behavior(73.40). Monkeys which do not do SPW behavior were 13 in all (Table 2).
In other words, out of 11 monkeys older than 12,* that is, born before
1950, only two females, Eba' and Natal', do SPW behavior. The percentage ofadults' acquisition of SPW behavior is very low. Among the monkeys bornafter 1951, only four do not perform the behavior. It is noteworthy that they
are all ./Vami"s children. They are lacking in the fundamental conditions ofacquiring the behavior, to which I will come back later.
*

Ages are as of August 1962.

Pre-cultural Behavior of Japanese Monkeys

Photo

1. A monkey running to the shore to wash sweet potatoes in thesea water, holding them in both hands.

Photo

2.

5

2. A monkey washing a sweet potato (SPW behavior)

Process of Propagation
The acquisition of SPW behavior can be dividcd into two periods; before
and after 1958. I shall call them the first period and the second period
respectively.
1) The First Period (Tile Period of Individual Propagation)
This is the period when monkeys born before 1956 acquired SPW behavior.
The time and process of acquisition are diverse. Adult monkeys which did
not acquire the behavior during this period could not acquire it since then.
The acquisition of SPW behavior and the process of propagation during thefirst period are very interesting. Fig. 1, Fig. 2, and Table 1 show the importanceof age, sex, and kinship as the factors of acquiring SPW behavior.
Most competent for acquiring SPW behavior are juveniles of 1-2.5 years old(Fig. 2). Almost every monkey acquired |he behavior when they were at

M. KAWAI

6
T a b l e 2.

Year
Born

Monkeys of the Koshima Troop and Newly-acquired Behavior (As of Aug. 1962)
No. ofAge
Male
F e m a l e SPW WW
B
GM
beh. acquired
Male Female

before1949

over Kaminari

0

0

0

@

1

13

Akakin

0

0

0

@

1

Mobo

0

0

0

+

1

H~oshimaru

0

0

0

+

1

0

0

0

+

1

0

0

+

1

0

0

0

0
4

Hanakake*
Utsubo

1949
1950
1951

13

Nori

0

Eba

+

S

+

+

Nami

+

0

0

0

1

Natsu

0

0

0

0

0

12

Gosuke *

0

0

4+zx

?

1

11

Kon*

+

0

0

+

2

Ira*

+

0

0

+

2

Semushi

+

0

0

+

2

@

S

@

@

Aome

@

+

0

4+

3

Harajiro

4+

0

÷

@

3

~

0

0

?

1
1

Sango

1952

10

Uni*
Naki
Imo

1953
1954

0

0

0

0

+

@

~

-~

4+

4

4

9

Nomi*

q-

0

0

@

2

8

Jugo*

@

+

4+/-\

+

4

Ei*

+

0

0

+

2

these ages. Almost all of the males acquired the behavior at these ages, but
males older than four found it diffficult--almost impossible, we might say--toacquire the behavior. Females, on the other hand, could acquire SPW
behavior even if they were older than four. For females which acquired the
behavior belong to three generations; 1-3 years old, 5-6 years old, and adult.
What is the cause of the difference between male and female in acquiring
the behavior? In order to acquire SPW behavior, though the mechanism ofacquisition is unknown, close social interaction with those who are in SPW
behavior (SPW-monkey) is required at the feeding time. In this lies a
difference between male and female due to their social status. When amale monkey becomes four years old, he begins to move from the central
part of the troop to the peripheral part, entering into the ordinary male class.
Therefore, adolescent and adult male's social interactions with females andjuveniles in the central part are very limited. Especially, fearful of the leaders,males feed where theyare not attacked by the leaders. So that they seldom feedPre-cultural Behavior of Japanese Monkeys

7

T a b l e 2.

Year
Born

Age

1955

7

1956

Male

FemaleGM

No. ofbeh. acquired

6

@

+

+

@

Sasa

-~

@

+

+

+

+

+

+

4
2

Tsuru

5

4

3

4
4

0

0

+

+

+

+

@

qt-

4

Zabon

+

+

+

0

3

+

+

-H-

-~7

Ika

+

+

+

0

3

Saba

+

÷

@zx

+

4

4

Ego

@

@

@±

@

4

Nashi

0

0

+

0

1

Nof u j i

+

+

+

q+

Ebi

+

+

q+L~,

0

3

t lamo

~

0

+

I

3

I

Namako
Eso

[

4

[

~

[

0

4

0

2

4

I

!

t

4

Zai

I

Ine

I

0

-4+

I

3

Sakura

÷

15

+t ""

~

4

3-

I

@ ,7,

_k

Namazu

0

0

0

0

0

Nobori

+

0

~

0

2

Hasu

+

0

i

~_

3

Tsuga

,

0

!

I

3

Eboshit[,

Female

Enoki

Tsuge

1959

B

Nogi

Hama

1958

WW

Male

Nabe

1957

SPW

(contd.)~[4

4+ : degree of skill and completeness in conducting the behavior ( 45 7:::.-~ ).
+ : incomplete acquisition
0 : not acquired
S : snatching behavior: swimming* : solitary male

As a result, adolescent males h a r d l y
together with females a n d juveniles.
acquire S P W b e h a v i o r t h r o u g h social interaction.
Females h a v e astrong g r o u p i n g tendency. Particularly, m o t h e r a n d childoften m o v e together. It is a m o n g those w h o h a v e the strong social affinity t h a t
co-feeding is possible and m o t h e r and child usually co-feed ( K a w a i 1958; Y a m a d a1963). K a w a m u r a r e m a r k e d (1954, '56), suggesting the typical e x a m p l e ofI m o ' and E b a ' , that the p r o p a g a t i o n of S P W b e h a v i o r was done t h r o u g h m o t h e r -8

M. KAWAI

child relationship.
For, though Eba' is an adult female, she acquired S P W
behavior at the earliest time. The same can be said with Nami', who showed
the strongest maternal care of all the females of the troop. Probably she acquired
the behavior through Jugo', who is skillful of SPW behavior.
The same canalso said with the three females who acquired the behavior while they were
five or six years old. It is not known whether they acquired the behavior
through brothers and sisters or through other members of the troop. But
most probably they were always abound in the opportunities of acquiring the
behavior as they were in the central part.
Judging from the fact that only two females out of 11 monkeys born
before 1950 acquired the behavior, old age is obviously a great obstacle to theacquisition of the behavior. Adults generally have difficulty in acquiring the
behavior, unless they are under particular conditions such as a very close motherchild relation or an excellent intellect.
As regards the process of propagation in the first period, there is a remarkable phenomenon during five years after the beginning of SPW behavior (19531957). It is that, within the same kinship, the order of the acquisition of the
behavior is from the young to the old (Fig. 1) ; that is, child, rather than mother,and younger brother and sister, rather than elder ones, acquire the behavior.
Kawamura once pointed out that propagation of the behavior has two courses;
through playmates relations and through kinship. The course of propagation
shown in Fig. 1 supports this. In this propagation it is believed that the process
is mostly from child to mother, and from younger to elder brother and sister;that is, kinship propagation is from the younger to the older.
As propagation is done, in the first period, through the relationship ofindividuals, we call this period the period of individual propagation.
2) The Second Period (The Period of Pre-cultural Propagation)
After 1959 aspects of propagation were different from those of the first
period. SPW behavior was no more a new mode of behavior to the troop
as it was fixed as pre-culture during 1958-59. Monkeys born during this period
accepted SPW behavior as a normal feeding behavior and learned it without
any resistance at all.
SPW-monkeys eat potatoes at the edge of water. So that the potato skinis scattered around at the bottom of water. Babies, who have the experienceof eating potatoes in water at the beginning of the development of feeding
behavior, are conscious of the association of potato with water. In the processof learning, eating potato by picking it up out of water is to them equally ona level with eating natural food.
Being always with mothers, babies stare at their mothers' behavior whilemothers are doing SPW behavior. In this manner infants acquire SPW behavior
through mothers' behavior. Therefore, the process of propagation in thisperiod is, different from that of the first period, always from mother to child.
The process of acquiring the behavior in infant and juvenile I of thisPre-cultural Behavior o f J a p a n e s e Monkeys

9period is as follows:a) Strengthening affinity to water.
Infants are taken to the edge of water during the period when they are
dependent solely on mother's milk for nourishment. While mother is in SPW
behavior, they strengthen affinity to water by being dipped in water, or sprashingwater by hand.
b) Eating potato in the water.
Infants eat fragmentary pieces of potato that mother dropped in the water.
This begins at half a year old.
c) Acquisition of SPW behavior.
Infants acquire it while they are 1-2.5 years old. For example, in December
1961, five monkeys of 2.5 years old (Zai', etc.) acquired SPW behavior in its
complete form. But out of six monkeys of 1.5 years old (born in 1960), only
Eboshi" acquired SPW behavior. By August 1962, of these six monkeys, Eboshi',Same', and Tsuga' learned the behavior completely, and Hasu' and JVobori' incompletely.
(Of these six monkeys, Namazu" only has not yet acquired the
behavior.)
Thus, in the second period the acquisition of SPW behavior begins simultaneously as infant. In the first period, sex and age were important factors
facilitating propagation. But in tile second period, acquisition or propagationof SPW behavior occurs independently of these two factors. That is, inacquiring tile behavior, it is believed, pre-cuhural pressure is working. Thcrefbre, i will call the second period the period ot" pre-cuitural propagation.
3. Variations of SPW Behavior
1) From Fresh Water to Salt Water
During 1953-1954 SPW bchavior was done on tile edge of a brook running
into the sea. Monkeys never washed potatoes by salt water, but by f)esh
water (Kawamura 1954).
At the surveys of 1957 and 1958 we discovered
many a monkey washed potatoes by salt water. There is no record about theindividual monkeys, but among the SPW-monkeys, there was, it seems, none
who wash potatoes only by fresh water.* At the survey of December 1961, all
the SPW-monkeys washed potatoes both by salt water and by fresh water.
But when they used fresh water, there were particular reasons; for example,
they were given potatoes by the fresh water, or, subordinate monkeys avoided
coming near the sea-shore for fear of" the dominant. In other words, SPWmonkeys preferred much salt water to fresh water in the behavior. For one
thing, the quantity of fresh water is small. In the draught season the brookwhich runs into the sea is dried up. (There is always water in the small poolmade artificially lab. 30 c m x 6 0 c m ] , but that is not enough in mattcrs ofspace for many monkeys to do washing potatoes.) Another reason is that, if*

At the surveys of 1957 and 1958, no individual records were collected w h e t h e r washing
was done by salt water or by fresh water. Surveys of 1958 and 1959 were done by A z u m a
and Yoshiba, who, we expect, will report tbeir observations.

10

M. KAWAI
T a b l e 3.

Year Age J
Born
B-typeover 11
1951 11 Semushi'52 10
'53 9
'54 8
'55 7
'56 6
'57 5
'58 4
'59 3
'60 2
Total No.
1of monkeys

SPW Monkeys Classified by Three Types of SPW Behavior
Male
FemaleBS-typeIka
Ebi, Hamo
Namako, Eso
Same, Eboshi
7
11

S-typeB-typeBS-typeEba, Nami
Sango, Aome, Harajiro
Imo

Tsuru
Saba

Nobori3

Nogi
Hama, Zabon

S-typeSasa
Enoki
Ego, Nofuji

Zai

Sakura

10

5
19

Tsuge
Ine
Hasu, Tsuga
4monkeys become familiar with salt water, it makes potatoes taste good. These
caused monkeys, it is supposed, to prefer salt water to fresh water.
2) Seasoning Behavior
SPW-behavior is, as we have seen above, to dip a piece of potato by holding
it in one hand and to brush off sand from it by the other hand. Imo,' the originator of SPW behavior, does the typical behavior. But in order to remove
sand they do not always brush the potato. Often they let fall the potato in
the shallow water and wash the sand off by rolling it with one hand. Among themonkeys of the first period, such monkeys as Eba', Sango', Sasa' more frequentlyroll the potato than brushing the sand off with one hand. Therefore, there are
two types in SPW behavior; brushing type and rolling type.
But during the second period a third type appeared. It consisted in dipping the potato into the water everytime after gnawing it once or twice. Thisbehavior seems quite different from brushing the sand off from the potato.
They collect potatoes and take them to the sea-shore. But if this is not for the
purpose of washing, what reason is there in this behavior except for seasoning
potatoes with salt water? Therefore, I will call this behavior "the seasoning
behavior."
But it must be admitted that there is no monkey who does only the seasoning behavior. For example, out of ten tests applied to Saba', seven were seasoning behavior, two were rolling wash, and one was brushing wash. Interesting
to notice was the fact that, when a piece of potato with full of sand on it wasgiven, he removed the sand by a complete brushing wash behavior. He possesses himself of the technique of brushing wash, but he uses it, it seems, only
when he feels its necessity.

Pre-cultural Behavior of J a p a n e s e Monkeys

11

Table 3 gives the individual classification of the three types of SPW behavior. Among the thirty monkeys tested (11 males and 19 females), 11 belong
to brushing type (B-type), 12 belong to brushing-seasoning type (BS-type), and7 belong to seasoning type (S-type).* We can conclude from Table 3 that those
who belong to B-type, that is, who retain the old style are those who acquired
SPW behavior in the first period. And, those who acquired SPW behavior in
the later second period show strong inclination towards S-type.
The reason is that, because propagation in the first period, as seen above,
was done through individual relationship, B-type behavior acquired in the first
period was fixed within the SPW-monkeys. On the other hand, individuals
who acquired SPW behavior in the second period are acquainted from theirinfancy with eating potatoes in w a t e r So that they learn in the beginning to
eat potatoes with salt-seasoning or wet with water, and then acquire brushing
behavior of removing sand from potato. Hence many BS-types, and S-types,
especially, among the younger monkeys.
Another remarkable phenomenon of the propagation of the behavior
type is that within the same kinship there is a strong inclination towards thesame behavior type. Conspicuous examples are found in the lineage of Aome'and among Tsuru" and his younger brother and sisters. Aome' is skillful inbrushing, and her younger sister JVogi' and her children Zabo~' and Zai' belong
to B-type. That Zai' is the only monkey of B-type among the SPW-monkeysof the second period supports the idea of"the propagation of the behavior throughlineage. The three children of ,Nalsu' who are all of S-type support also thisidea. Different from these is the lineage of Harajiro'. The four SPW-monkeys
belonging to this lineage have various behavior types. Eba"s family also does
not show any marked lineage propagation. Therefore, it is proper to conclude
that behavioral type of SPW is propagated either through lineagc or throughsome other course.
We have discussed so far Seasoning behavior as being included in SPW
behavior, but strictly speaking, it should not be. SPW behavior is a kind of
cookery. If cookery can be classified into physical and chemical processes,
SPW behavior is the former, while Seasoning behavior is the latter. Monkeys,
we might say, beginning with the physical cooking of removing sand frompotato, came to know the chemical cooking of seasoning.

II

W I t E A T - W A S H I N G BEHAVIOR

1. Wheat-Washing Behavior
1) Acquisition of Wheat-washing Behavior
The Koshima troop has another pre-cultural behavior similar to SPW
behavior. It is Wheat-washing behavior (WW behavior).
*

Solitary males are not included in this table as their tests could not be done satisfactorily.

12

M. KAWAI

Table 4. Age and Year When Monkeys Acquired WW Behavior and Snatching Behavior
Year Adult
6.0 5.5 5.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 total observer
1956
Imo'
1
Kawamura
1957(Jugo')
(1)
Kawai
1958
Jugo"
Enoki'
Ego' 3
Yoshiba1959 Eba'*

Nogi'
Sasa'

( Zabon ')Enoki(*)

Nofuji'Ika"
Ego'*
Saba.( * ~1961
Tsuge'
Zai '-'62 Aome'
Zabon '
Saba"
(Ebi')(Eso')
1962
Hama'
Sakur a'Eboshi"(Aug.) Sango'* Tsuru"
Ebi"
Eso"
Same'*
Total 1,2"2
1
6
3,(2),1"
5,3*1( ): incomplete acquition*. Snatching Behavior only(*~" WW Behavior + Snatching Behavior

4,4"(1) Azuma
5,(2)

Kawai

6,2*
19,6"

Kawai

W h e n grains of wheat are scattered a b o u t on the beach, monkeys eat
them painstakingly picking one grain up after another. But once a m o n k e ygathered the grains of wheat together with sand and, by throwing them into
water, succeeded in separating grains of wheat from sand. This is called
W h e a t - W a s h i n g behavior, or, due to its resemblance, placer-mining behavior.
This behavior, begun by Imo'*, was first observed by K a w a m u r a in 1956.
lmo' was then 4 years old and was well acquainted with SPW behavior.
A survey was m a d e by Yoshiba from N o v e m b e r 1958 to J a n u a r y 1959;
another by A z u m a in J u n e 1959. According to these surveys, three monkeys
were found in W W behavior in the former date and four other monkeys were
found in the latter date. T h a t is, by J u n e 1959, 8 monkeys did W W behavior.
Between D e c e m b e r 1961 and J a n u a r y 1962, 5 other monkeys were added
to the 8 WW-monkeys. T h r e e others were observed once or twice doing W W
behavior (i.e., Ebi', Eso', and H a m a ' ) .
T h e i r behavior is still i m m a t u r e andis not yet fixed.
According to the survey m a d e in August 1962, W W b e h a v i o r of the threemonkeys above mentioned was found fixed and three other monkeys acquired
the behavior. Therefore, by August 1962, 19 monkeys in all acquired thisbahavior (Table 4).
T o 49 monkeys from which one-year-old monkeys are
excluded they reach the percentage of 38.7. Seven of the 19 monkeys are maleand 12 are female.
2) Process of Propagation
W W behavior was begun w h e n m a n gave monkeys grains of wheat byscattering them on the beach. In this respect W W behavior was begun u n d e r
an artificial condition.
According to Mrs. S. Mito, she made the observation of 8 S doing this behavior in 1954.
But as no one has ever seen WW behavior of 8 $ since then, we ascribe the origination of
the behavior to Im '

Pre-cultural Behavior of Japanese Monkeys

13Imo', who was the originatior of SPW behavior, initiated also W W behavior
in 1956. At the survey I made in 1957, WW-monkey was Imo' alone. But inthat year, we used much wheat for the wheat-box test in order to analyze
the dominance rank order.
Because of this monkeys grew familiar withwheat food, which contributed much, it seems, to quicken the growth of W W
behavior among the monkeys. (During this period Jugo" began, althoughincompletely, W W behavior.)
Yoshiba and Azuma, noticing WW behavior of Imo', gave her conditions tostrengthen this behavior by burying the grains in sand, stamping them. This
resulted in increasing the number of monkeys who learned W W behavior.
a) Courses of Propagation
The propagation of W W behavior can be considered individualistic up to
1962. We would like to discuss here through what course W W behavior was
propagated from the initiation by Imo' in 1956 to August 1962, and then what
the conditions of acquMng this behavior were.

Lineage and Playmate Relationship
The Process of propagation of WW behavior is the same with that of
SPW behavior; that is, propagation is done through playmates and throughlineage. Especially conspicuous is the propagation through lineage. Of 15
monkcys (not including one-year-old infants) of Eba"s lineage, to which lmo'
belongs, 13 do either WW behavior or Snatching behavior.* Nori"s family also
shows high percentage of acquisition. In 1961 this behavior was propagatedto monkeys of the jValsu' and in 1962 to those of tgarqfiro', and that only atiew members of the lineages could acquire it. An exception is, as was with
SPW behavior, the Nami"s lineage, in which only Jugo" does WW behavior but
others do not. Jugo" began the behavior in 1958, which was quite an early dateof this behavior. But the fact that others of Nami"s lineage do not do WW
behavior suggests that monkeys of this lineage arc low in the faculty of acquisition.

~lge and Sex
Ages at which the behavior was acquired arc shown in Table 4 and Fig. 3.
According to these date, WW behavior is most acquired by monkeys aged
two, three, and four**.
Judging from the fact that two of six years old, one adult, and one of one
and a half years old acquired the behavior respectively, monkeys older thansix and one year old are not as good as others in acquisition facuhy. Particularly, since none of those monkeys older than 12 (born before 1950) do WW
behavior, adults' faculty of acquisition is very poor. The point of this fiact is,
besides the general low adaptability of adult as was with SPW behavior, whether
they were already in adolescent or adult at the time of provisionization.
* Of Snatching behavior see II-2** Azuma discovered in 1959 the germinal behavior of WW behavior done by Zabon'. The.reis a strong possibility that Zabon' acquired WW behavior in 1960, when she was four.

14

M. KAWAI

Is difference of sex an important factor in the acquisition of WW behavior ?
Apparently females give the impression of being superior in the acquisition
faculty as out of 19 WW-monkeys 12 are female. But, taking into consideratianthe lineage and the playmate relationship, difference of sex is not counted
important in .juveniles.
However, in adolescent II and in adult difference of sex becomes important.
Males in adolescent II move to peripheral part and some of them become
solitary males. As a result, they have little opportunities to get WW behavior
through social interaction. Adult females, on the other hand, have chances ofacquiring the behavior through mother-child relationship. But adult males
have no such chances of acquiring the behavior through individual relationship.
Because of this there are no adult males who do WW behavior. As seen above,difference of sex can be considered on a level as in SPW behavior.
b) Pre-cultural Propagation
By August, 1962, WW behavior was propagated to four lineages. Monkeys
born after 1952, except for Nami"s children, will most probably acquire WW
behavior sooner or later.
In August 1962 one-year-old Iruka" and Sakaki' (the only infants born in1961) were seen several times scratching sand with their fingers while theirmothers were doing WW behavior. Knowing not its meaning, they were
imitating what their mothers were doing. Probably through this imitative
behavior they will acquire WW behavior. Five monkeys of two years old,
although they did not do WW behavior yet, were observed at times picking up
wheat in the water. But they did not scratch sand as Iruka" did.
These facts lead to the assumption that WW behavior was then about tobe fixed as a pre-cultural behavior of the troop.
2. Snatching Behavior
1) Snatching Behavior
Some monkeys, keeping watch on WW-monkeys, snatch the grains ofwheat when they are thrown into water by WW-monkeys. We call this,Snatching behavior, which was first observed by Azuma in 1956 (personalcommunication). In July 1959, an adult female, Eba', and 2-year-old Saba"
showed this behavior. Enoki' (3)* and Ego' (2) did WW behavior, but they showed often Snatching behavior, too. (Table 4, Fig. 3)
During the period from December, 1961 to January, 1962 when I madeobservations of monkeys, Eba' alone performed Snatching behavior. Saba' (4.5),
reported by Azuma, acquired WW behavior by that time, and Enoki' (5.5) andEgo' (4.5) did not any more snatch others' wheat, but did WW behavior only.
In August 1962, besides Eba', Sango' (11) and Same" (2) began Snatching
behavior. Eba' and Sango', ranked as No. 1 and No. 2 among the females, aremonkeys of high activities. When they approach towards others aggressively,
other monkeys run away from them. So Eba' and Sango' can eat wheat in water* Numerals in parentheses stand for age; e.g., Enoki(3) is Enoki, three years old.

Pre-cultural Behavior of J a p a n e s e Monkeys

~0

1

2

3

4

5

6

--7

: Male]]~]1: Female

7

adurt

15

Age

IIH

2

Snatching Behavior]Fig. 3Age w h e n monkeys began W W
behavior a n d n u m b e r of ~¥W
monkcy

Photo

4.

Photo

WW

3.

behaviorA m o n k e y gathering w h e a tt h r o w n on the sand. Monkeys
throw the wheat and sand into
the w a t e r a n d pick up thewheat which comes up to thesurthee.

16

M. KAWAI

without any efforts. Same', on the other hand, who is given a high tolerance
to co-feeding as he is still two years old, comes near monkeys in W W behavior
and eats wheat together, or collects the grains floating towards him, or eats
left-overs after WW-monkeys are gone.
When grains of wheat are thrown over on the beach, Eba', Sango', andSame" keep watch on the movements of WW-monkeys. And when WW-monkeys,
taking the wheat to the edge of water, plunge it into water, then Eba' andSango' disperse them by making an attack on them and succeed in getting thewheat.
2) Two Types of Snatching Behavior
As suggested above, in Snatching behavior there are two types.
One is collecting the left-overs, as shown in Same"s behavior. This ispeculiar to juveniles and develops later into W W behavior. Therefore, thisis a behavior at the stage before the acquisition of W W behavior. Azuma
observed Enoki' and Ego' both in W W behavior and Snatching behavior, andlater he observed Enoki' do the perfect W W behavior, giving up Snatching
behavior all of a sudden (Azuma, personal communication). In 1961, they
were most skillful in W W behavior.
The other type is plundering, as suggested by the behavior of the two adults,
Eba' and Sango'. They attack WW-monkeys and plunder the wheat bythemselves. They do not do W W behavior themselves, but let other WW-monkeys wash the wheat for them. Eba' began this behavior in 1959, and during
1961-1962 her behavior became habitual.
Because by plundering they can monopolize the fruit of labor made by
WW-monkeys, their behavior is far more effective to them than W W behavior
itself. Eba' and Sango' do Snatching behavior often and importunately.
They will, we believe, habitually do the plundering type of Snatching behavior
without acquiring W W behavior.
Snatching behavior is worth noticing. For Japanese monkeys usually do
not plunder others' food by attack except for special occasions. Therefore,
Snatching behavior has an important implication as a behavior to take advantage
of others' labor. The behavior of this type has not been observed among
other Japanese monkey troops.

III
1.

BA THING BEHAVIOR

Acquisition of Bathing Behavior
Monkeys of Koshima, although they are leading lives on a small islet
surrounded by the sea, never went into the sea. After they were accustomed tosalt water by SPW behavior, all that they could do was just to dip their hands
and feet in water. None of them bathed in water.
However, in the summer of 1959 Mrs. Mito attracted monkeys to go into
the water of Otomari Bay by throwing peanuts in the sea.
Since then somePre-cuhural Behavior of Japanese Monkeys

17monkeys went into the sea to get peanuts. The first monkey who went into
the sea was, it is reported (Mito, personal communication), two-year-old Ego'.
We call this behavior of going into water Bathing behavior (B behavior).
At the short survey made in the summer of 1960 a few monkeys born after
1954 were observed to bathe. (Ego', Jugo', Saba", and Ebi" were identified,but others were not.)By the thorough investigations m a d e in J a n u a r y and in the summer of
1962, the following facts were m a d e clear.
1) O f the 49 monkeys available to the investigation, 31 were observed doing
B behavior (63.2%).
2) All the monkeys born after 1955, excepting only 2 one-year-old monkeys
and Namazu', bathed in the water.
3) O f the monkeys born before 1955, only Eba', Sango', Harajiro' andImo' took themselves into water. Other adults not only never bathed in thesea, but also hated to dip even their feet,* with the exceptions of Akakin" andNami', who occasionally dipped their wrists and ankles. Adults who have
performed B behavior are 2 solitaries** out of 14 males and 4 out of 9 females.
2. Process of Propagation
1) AgeMonkeys who acquired B behavior in the early date (1959-1960) were,
it is reported, Ego' (2), 3bJudz (2-3), yugo" (5), Saba" (2-3), and Ebi" (2). There
were some others whose names are unidentified, but no adults arc found in thisgroup.
Therefbre, B behavior was begun, it is safe to assume, by juvenilesof two or three years old.
The propagating speed of B behavior was fast. Only within three years
after the appearance of Bathing-monkeys, almost all juveniles and adolescentsacquired the behavior. Adaptability for B behavior is very high in y o u n g
monkeys. The percentage of acquiring the behavior of those born aftcr 1955,
excluding two monkeys born in 1961 and 1962, is 96.1%.
These two monkeys were one year old as of 1962. So that it is difficult,it seems, for one-year-old monkeys acquire B behavior.
The percentage of acquisition of aduhs is vcry low. It is only 26.0%, foronly 6 out of 23 adults to B behavior.
2) Sex
How is difference of sex relatcd to the acquisition? No particular differentiation due to the dift~rencc of sex can be observed in juveniles and adolescents.
In adults the percentages of acquisition arc greatly different in males a n dfemales, jugo', who does B behavior, acquired it when hc was 5 years old.
/"

•

•

"'7

Exceptions are made when ihey run along the beach in shallow water getting chasing
attack.
• * Gosuke" is believed to be drowned to death when he was trying to swim to the. other shore
across the sea. jugo" swam to the other shore in 1960 and swam back to the islet in thefall of 1964.

18

M. KAWAI

So that, generally speaking, it is very difficult for adult males to acquire B
behavior.
On the other hand, 4 out of 9 adult females are familiar with B behavior.
Why do they have higher percentage of acquisition than males? It is onlyin these 4 monkeys who do B behavior and in Aome' and Nami' that SPW
behavior is practiced among all the adult females. In other words, towards a
new situation these 4 monkeys have strong adaptive tendency which has beenbrought up by SPW behavior. As a result, they adapted themselves quite easily
to bathing.
Another factor to be taken into account is a mother-child relationship.
Mother-child relationship is so close that mothers are easily influenced bychildren and are led, it is believed, to the acquisition of B behavior.
Ouickness of propagation is characteristic of B behavior. In regard to
this two reasons can be mentioned. One is that the cause which gave rise to
the behavior was to throw in the sea their most favorite food, peanuts.
This
contributed much, we suppose, to change monkeys' conservatism.
The other is that, different from SPW behavior, bathing is the matter ofadaptation to a new habitat. In SPW behavior intellectual factor has to alarge extent to do with its acquisition. But acquisition of B behavior is simply
a matter of adapting oneself to a new environment and of changing conservatism. This makes us feel a strong interest in monkeys' conservatism, whichis especially remarkable in adult male. Adaptability to a new habitat is highin juveniles and adolescent, medium in adult female, but very low in adult male.
3) Pre-cultural Propagation
Infants are offered a very good opportunity in acquiring the behavior
because mothers go into the sea with their infants clung on to themselves.
But mothers do not pay any particular attention whether or not their children
are dipped into water. Often infants are completely under water. In thisPhoto

5. Monkeysbathing at the beach of Otomari.

Pre-cultural Behavior of Japanese Monkeys

19way, not long after their birth, infants are a d a p t e d to bathe in water. As a result,infants accept the sea as a habitat and feel no reluctance in bathing. W h e nthey come to lead i n d e p e n d e n t lives the sea is already p a r t o f their h a b i t a t asm u c h as the mountain. Therefore, the acquisition of B behavior is to infantsa pre-cultural acquisition. Thus B behavior is easily fixed a m o n g the troop.
3. Variation of Bathing Behavior
In B behavior, almost all monkeys do q u a d r u p e d a l locomotion in theankle-deep shallows. In the deeper places monkeys do bipedal locomotion.
Often they are seen bathing, dipping themselves up to shoulders, or doingq u a r d r u p e d a l locomotion with only head held above water.
In bipedal locomotion, the degree of dipping themselves are different:
some up to knees, others up to waist, and others up to breast. In every
case they try as far as possible to avoid wetting their hands. Mothers do not
p a y any attention to bathing their child when it clings on their back or theirbreast. Even when infants are completely u n d e r water and are sometimes
about to be drowned, mothers are careless o f it.
Monkeys that do swimming are 10 (Table 2) ; cight monkeys of 2 to 5 years
old and 2 solitary males of adult.
O f these swimming monkeys, some juveniles, that is, 2 of two years old
and 3 of three years old, began to take a strong interest in bathing itsclt\
T h e y performed diving from rocks and cnjoycd swimming. Originally Bathing
behavior began as a new behavioral pattern to get food in the sea. But thesetive monkeys have dcvclopcd the behavior to get into the sea in order to avoid
the heat or just to play in hot summer. Besides swimming, they began to diveu n d e r water skillt'ully and somctimes took sea-weed fi'om the bottom of 1 or
1.5m deep. In other words, out of'B behavior to get food in the sea they found
new practices of playing and avoiding the heat. As of August 1962, a m o n g
Photo

6. Juveniles diw: t)om rocks
and dabble in water.

Photo

7. Leaders and almost all of adults do notenter the water. Whatever favorite
foods are thrown in the sea, the lcadcr(left) would not enter the sea.

20

M. KAWAI

the swimming monkeys, those of 4 and 5 years old do not do these practices.
Noteworthy is the fact that this behavior was begun by the most playful juveniles.
It will probably be propagated to most juveniles. But how it will be propagatedto adolescents and adults is hardly be guessed because this behavior includes
two practical purposes that are peculiar to juveniles, that is, play and avoidanceof the heat.
IV"GIVE-ME-SOME" BEHAVIOR

1.

Give-me-some Behavior
While the observer puts his hand into the pocket to take out peanuts,monkeys wait sitting in front of him, taking the posture of let-me-have-please;that is, with his lower arm raised a little, his forearm held out, and flexed fingers
pointing upward (Photo 8). This behavior quite resembles that of a humanchild when he is given sweets or cookies. We call this Give-me-some Behavior(GM Behavior).
G M behavior is a kind of anticipatory response. The hand showing theattitude of "Give me" is in symbolic process. When the food is offered, themonkey takes it not with the hand which is held out, but with the other hand.
For example, when '"Give me" posture is made by the right hand, the left handis always used for taking the food.
There are some variations in G M behavior. In a type the lower arm is
kept close to the side of the body and the forearm is held out in a horizontal
position. In another, the monkey standing on the feet, both arms are held up.
In the other, the lower arm is kept close to the side, while the forearm is raised
a little and the palm is turned toward the giver of the food. These behavioral
patterns are unvariable within each individual monkey.
The hand used for G M behavior is also almost fixed in each individualmonkey*.
O f 44 monkeys put under the test, 12 used the right hand in G M
behavior, 9 used the left hand, and 7 used either hand as occasion varies.
G M behavior can not necessarily be seen always when monkeys are given
food. When they are not psychologically calm, that is, under a situation tobe easily disturbed by others, or near the leader or other dominant monkeys,
they do not show G M behavior.
2. Acquisition and Propagation
Out of 47 monkeys available to the test, 37 performed G M behavior.**(2 one-year-old monkeys were not tested). The percentage is 78.8, which ishigher than the percentage of SPW behavior.
Among 24 males, 19 (79.1%) do G M behavior, and among 23 females, 18(78.2%) do it. No difference due to sex can be observed in the acquisition of
G M behavior.
***

Results of this test will be reported in the future.
This N u m b e r includes 3 monkeys who do the behavi r inc-mpletely.

Pre-cultural Behavior of Japanese Monkeys

Photo

8.

21

monkey conducting give-me-some behavior. He is
waiting for food with his elbow bent.

AHigh percentage of acquisition in adults is characteristic of this behavior.
In this respect, this GM behavior is ditli:rent qualitatively from SPW, WW,
and B behaviors. Of 21 adult monkeys, only 3 females do not show G M
behavior. It is worth noticing that c~en leader males, who are very conservative,.............................
, c,,,tt~
Ju J,, t~l,~/tItill
lllltlt;t(~ ~tcquire [ f l l S[)euaviorthan lbr female.
Monkeys who do not perform GM behavior are 10 (5 males and 5
females). Included in them are 3 children of,/Vami' (J\~si', Namako', ,/Vamazu').
We might say that monkeys of the ~'~'ami's kin are infi:rJor in the acq,lisition
ability of GM behavior.
The initiator and the first date of GM behavior are unknown. In 1960
Azuma noticed that I~'aminari', one of the leaders, did GM behavior (personalcommunication). Many monkeys must have performed the behavior in thepretty much earlier date. GM behavior cannot be seen unless the relationshipbetween the man who gives the food and the monkey who is given the food isstable, and the monkey is in a calm situation not to be attacked by others.
Therefore, it was quite difficult for an observer, it may be supposed, to recognize
the behavior as characteristic to a monkey.
The process of propagation of this behavior is unknown. But we supposethat monkeys at the age of two acquire it. For, of the 6 two-year-old monkeys,
one does GM behavior, three do it in an imperfect form, and two do not.
Ebos/~i" shows only his palm turned up, or raises his hand a little with his palm
turned up. Tsuga' and Hasu' raise their hand .just a little--a posture at an
early stage of GM behavior. Of the monkeys of three years old, 4 out offive can perform GM behavior pretty well, but the behavior is not fixed wellyet. It is in those monkeys older than 4. that GM behavior is fixed well.

22

M. KAWAI

These facts lead us to the conclusion that G M behavior is supposed to be fixedat the ages of four or five.
3. Meaning of G M Behavior
G M behavior is a kind of anticipatory response, in which the held-out
hand shows the symbolic behavior representing anticipation. As mentioned
above, monkeys generally take food in the other hand than the one which
represents anticipation. But, in taking the food, only Mobo" and Naki', whose
intellectual faculty is low, use always the same hand that indicates anticipation.
They take the food with the raised hand because they cannot, it is believed, regard the raised hand as symbolic of anticipation.
Why was G M behavior begun, and how was it propagated ? Judging fromthe intellectual faculty of monkeys, the acquisition of this behavior is hardly
ascribed to imitation.
G M behavior was born out of the relationship with human beings. Afterthe provisionization, the relationship with man played a large part in the lifeof the troop. Compared with other monkeys of wild monkey parks, monkeys
at Koshima are distinguished in that since the provisionization they have never
bitten, attacked, and seldom threaten men. In other wild monkey parks there
come a lot of ill-natured sightseers who do not give food gently or tease monkeys.
So that monkeys on their turn snatch the food by threatening the visitors or biteat those who tease them. In such places monkeys and men are not always inpeaceful relation.
At Koshima, on the other hand, there are few sightseers , and contact withmonkeys is made mainly by the local lovers of monkey or researchers of monkey.
Since a perfect friendly relationship is established between monkeys and men,monkeys need not snatch the food by threat or attack, and they have learned
to wait.
In short, what is characteristic of this troop is the gentle, friendly
attitude towards men which is fixed in the troop. G M behavior is, it may besaid, the symbolic behavior of such an attitude.

DISCUSSION
1.

Meaning and Correlation of Newly Acquired Behaviors
We would like to discuss here the meaning and the correlation of the four
behaviors newly acquired in the Koshima troop--Sweet-potato Washing,
Wheat Washing, Bathing, and Give-me-some behaviors.
1) Bathing Behavior
This behavior, as we have seen above, is an adaptive behavior in relation
to enlarging habitat environment or niche, or a behavior that is related to thehabit of the maintenance of life.
It is not rare that Japanese monkeys go into the river or the sea. The
Ohirayama troop bathes in the brook in summer. Many troops bathe in theriver or in the pool; such as the Minoo troop (Kawamura, personal communica-Pre-cultural Behavior of Japanese Monkeys

23tion), Arashiyama troop (Hazama, Iwata 1962).
The Okinoshima troop
was relocated there (an islet) from Shodoshima, and males of from three to five
years old began to get into sea water there. An interesting case is the Jigokudani
troop, which was observed by Suzuki. At Jigokudani snow falls deep in winterand some monkeys there take a hot spring (Suzuki 1963, '65).
It is considered a general habit of Japanese monkeys to bathe or swim.
But, as seen in the Koshima troop, this habit should be noticed as that of thetroop rather than of individuals; that is, it is a behavior pattern to be treatedwithin the category of pre-cultural phenomena.
Another point to be noticed is related to the adaptability and the traditionof the troop in Japanese monkeys. Surprising is the strong tradition of the
Koshima troop never to have gone in water until then. But we learn throughthe Koshima troop that once that strong traditional conservatism began tobreak down by some cause or others, it can easily be removed.
The problems of food habit and territorialism, which have been treated as
pre-cultural phenomena, can be considered on a level with Bathing behavior.
We should pay attention to the fact that the tradition of the troop society
controls individual adaptive behavior.
An experimental study of the propagation of food habit in the Takasakiyama troop, made by Itani in 1958, can be dealt with on a level with Bathing
behavior. For the high percentage of getting new tk)od shown in regard tomonkeys below three years old as reported by Itani corresponds to thepercentage of acquiring Bathing behavior.
2) SPW Behavior and WW Behavior
These two behaviors should be noticed as "inventive" behaviors as.J. Frisah(1963) mentioned. Among Japanese monkeys any other "inventive" behaviors
have not yet been discovered. These behaviors should be oriented as those in
the pre-stage of material culture or tool using, or the behavior illustrating theprocess towards these.
That these two behaviors are of the same quality is shown in the same formof the graph representing the percentages of acquiring them (Fig. 4). The
only difference is that in the period of individual propagation the acquisition
age of SPW behavior is one and a half or two years old, while that of WW behavior is between two and four years old. This difference is due to the relative
di~culty of acquisition. SPW behavior, to be referred to below, is sometimes
observed within other troops as individual behavior, and seems to have a possibility of being acquired incidentally.
In WW behavior monkeys have to go through the procedure of collecting
wheat by the hand and taking it together with sand and then selccting wheat in
the water. In other words, in WW behavior a higher intellectual activity isrequired than in SPW behavior. W W behavior is more difiicuit in perlbrmanceand requires in its acquisition the ages between juvenile II to adolescent.
There are some monkeys who do SPW behavior even in other troops; such

24

M. KAWAI

4\ h"'L/' i/ l\/
.~' 3
s
eu

~2

40

x

!l /

k.

20
o- . . . .

FemaLe

l

i

i

2-3

4-5

6-7

10
i

i

8-11 1 2 - -~__~2--3 4-5

AgeCorrelation between acquisition
rate of 4 new behaviors and ageof monkeys

Fig. 5

8-11 12~SPW Behavior

o-. . . .

WW Behavior

×. . . . .

GM Behavior

B

Fig. 4

6-7

•

Ag8

Behavior

Correlation

betweenaveragenumberof new behaviors
a c q u i r e d to o n e m o n k e y a n d
age and sex

as Takasakiyama (Itani, personal communication), Ohirayama (Kawai), Arashiyama (Hazama, personal communication), and Gagyusan (Furuya, personalcommunication). But in these troops the behavior remains individual and is
not propagated to other monkeys to form pre-cultural behavior of the troop.
WW behavior is not observed in other troops.
Japanese monkeys have neither language nor denoting function, and, asa result, have no ability to teach actively. Mechanism of the process of acquiring SPW and WW behaviors seems to correspond to the "matched dependent
behavior" that N.E. Miller and J. Dollard referred to (1941). Macaques are
generally believed inferior in the ability of imitation (Yatabe 1945), but, judging
from the propagation of these two behaviors, it may be acceptable that in a natural
troop imitation through daily lives is made rather intensively.
3) Give-me-some Behavior
GM behavior is different in quality from other three pre-cultural behaviors
mentioned above. This behavior is a kind of attitude toward man born outof friendship and composure on the part of monkeys. In other words, characteristic of this troop is the gentle, friendly attitude towards men which is fixed inthis troop. For monkeys of this troop have this attitude from their infancy.
The friendly attitude of all the monkeys towards men can be taken as a kind of

Pre-cultural Behavior of Japanese Monkeys

25

implicit pre-culture. G M behavior is symbolic of this implicit pre-culture.
G M behavior can be witnessed even in other troops, but it remains individualistic
and is not a general behavior pattern of the troop representing its relationshipto men.
The remarkable difference of this behavior from SPW and W W behaviors
is that it is performed by all the adult males and solitary males. This suggests
the existence of a fixed behavior pattern in expressing a friendly relation to man.
The behavior pattern is believed to be quite general among the species ofJapanese monkeys.
Implicit pre-culture of this sort defines the social character of the troop
such as cautiousness, tameness, and aggressiveness. In other words, it is greatly
related with personality formation of the members of the troop. Therefore, themechanism of acquiring this behavior has greatly to do with "identification"
which Imanishi mentioned (1957).
4) Acquisition and Propagation
In each section we have discussed that the three factors, i.e., age, sex, andkinship, are important in the acquisition and propagation of the four newly
acquired behaviors. We would like to take them up here together.
Fig. 4 indicates the acquisition of the four behaviors in terms of ages. The
acquisition curves of SPW, WW, and g behaviors belong to the same type,while the curve of G M behavior is in a (lift\went form. The acquisition of thethree behaviors begins in juvenile, reaches the highcst point in adolescent andgoes down in adult. On the othcr hand, in GM behavior the highcst percentage of acquisition (100(){~) is seen in adolescent II and adults of 8-11 years
old, and cven adults above 12 years old show higher pcrcentage of acquisition
than in the other three behaviors.
In Fig. 5 is shown the average number of acquisition within an individualmonkey of the four behaviors and the interrelationship of age and sex. In
juvenile and adolescent I difference of sex does not count. (In juvenile, females
appear to have higher percentage of acquisition than males, but the truth is thatamong males are included two of the Nami's kin who are inferior in acquisition. Wc will touch on this point below.) In adolescent II and adult (fromeight to eleven years old), males' percentage is lowcr than that of females. Thisis due, as have bccn rcpeated above, to the difference of status between
males and females. That adults older than 12 are inferior in acquisition is
illustrated also by Fig. 5.
In each section we have referred to the difference of acquisition caused bylineage. Eba"s children are high in intellect or in adaptability, while ./Vami"schildren are low. Table 6-a indicates the number of the acquisition of the four
behaviors by mothers and children of the Natal's and the Eba's. The Eba's kin
acquired on the average 3.6 behaviors, whiic the jVamis' kin did 1.6. Tab. 6-bshows the average acquisition numbers of behaviors by lineages. The full
mark being fbur, the Sango's lineage got good mark. Table 6-a also shows the

25

M. KAWAI

Table 5Acquisition rate of new behaviors, classified by age
average no, of new
behaviors aquired

Newly-acquired Behavior
Age
2~ 3
4~ 5
6~ 7
8~11
12~

SPW
90.9%
87.5
85.7
91.6
18.1

WW
36.3%
75.0
85.7
25.0
0

BW
90.9%
100.0
100.0
33.3
18.1

Table 6

GM
72.7%
62.5
100.0
100.0
63.6

male
2.5
3.2
3.0
2.8
1.1

Nami'

Eba'

1

4

2

4

1951

I

52

female
3.4
3.2
4.0
3.2
1.0

i

1

4

4

2

2

4

53
54
55
56

I

57

I

1

4

L
I

58

3

59

2

4

I

1

60

0

4

M.A.B.

1.6

3.6

Figures show number of newly
acquired behaviors.
(a)Lineage(Mothers)
N u m b e r ofbabiesM.A.B.

Sango

Eba

Imo

Aome

Harajiro

Natsu

Nori

Utsubo Nami

4

8

2

2

3

3

4

2

7

4

3.6

3.3

3.3

3.0

2.6

2.6

1.6

1.6

(b)
M.A.B. : M e a n number of new behavior acquired (total number of new behavior membersof a lineage acquired by / number of members)

Pre-cultural Behavior of Japanese Monkeys

27

difference of acquisition ability due to lineage.
In the society of Japanese monkeys, mother-child relations are known, butfather is hard to discover.
Therefore, it is difficult to pursue this genetic
problem strictly. Still, it is interesting that the difference of acquisition ability
by each lineage is made clear at least in outline. Worth noticing is the Nami'slineage, to which both a monkey of excellent intellectual faculty and a muchinferior monkey belong. Jugo" achieves a high percentage of acquisition and,judging from other behaviors of his, he has the highest intellectual faculty, while
Naki" is so inferior that we nickname him a weak-minded boy. This is a consensus
views of several observers. It is hard to understand, though interesting enough,that such a monkey as Jugo" should have appeared in this lineage.
2 Environmental Basis of Pre-cultural Phenomena
We would like to consider the reasons why particularly among the Koshima
troop pre-cultural phenomena developed.
The pre-cultural behavior we have seen above were all born out of obtaining
food and the relation to men. That is, they all derive from provisionization.
Provisionization made great changes on the natural life of the troop. In
the natural life feeding plays an important role. Being given enough food by
men at the special feeding ground llad to give a major influence on the natural
life of the troop.
Japanese monkeys never have close social interaction with difl\~rent animals.
They were given lbod through provisionization by men, their greatest enemy,
and they became to have a fi'iendly relationship with men. That is, a new,
ditI~rcnt life environment or niche was introduced to their natural lilt:. Therefore, provisionized monkeys surlY:red changes in their attitude and value system
and were given foundations on which pre-cultural phenomena developed.
Another important factor is natural environment. In Koshima threedifferent environments--that is, precipitous mountains with thick wood, thesandy beach, and the sea are beautifully integrated. Before they were provisionized, mountains were their only habitat. But after tile provisionization
they came to know contrastingly different environments such as the sandy
beach and the sea, and their natural environment was enriched rapidly. We
believe that through the cffbrts to integrate the contrast their creative exploiting
faculty has been formed. For major pre-cultural behaviors of the Koshima troop
are connected with the sands and the sea.
In short, pre-cuhural behaviors of the Koshima troop were all begun
under the conditions of provisionization. It is quite doubtful whether or not
such inventive behaviors as SPW and W W behaviors should have been developedin the natural life. We should notice here that in response to the change ofenvironmental conditions monkeys have invented adaptive behavior. The
creation of inventive behavior is most important. Behavioral adaptability or
plasticity in response to the change of environment will become important when
we come to think of the evolution of behavior of the species.

28

M. KAWAISUMMARY
1. In Koshima Island, Miyazaki Prefecture, there lives a natural troop of
Japanese monkeys. In 1953 a monkey began Sweet-potato Washing behavior,
which was spread to others and was fixed in this troop as pre-culture.
Among other newly acquired behaviors that were fixed as pre-culture, there
are Wheat-washing behavior, Bathing behavior, and Give-me-some behavior.
We have made clear the origin and the process of propagation of these four precultural behaviors, considered their meaning and commented upon their significance in the evolution of behavior.
2. Sweet-potato Washing behavior
1) Sweet-potato washing behavior (SPW behavior) was begun by a oneand-a-half-year-old female in 1953.
2) This "inventive" behavior was propagated to others, and by August,
1962, 73.4% of 49 monkeys above 2 years old did this behavior.
3) The propagation of SPW behavior is divided into the first period (theperiod of individual propagation, 1953-1957) and the second period (theperiod of pre-cultural propagation, 1958- ).
4) In the first period propagation was made through lineage and playmate
relationship. Acquisition of the behavior in the first period was made at theage of one or two without any difference due to sex. Monkeys older than five
who acquired the behavior are all females. Adult monkeys who did not acquire
the behavior could not acquire it even within five years after that period.
5) Propagation in the second period was made from mother to child.
Almost all the children born after 1958 acquired SPW behavior.
6) The exception is the dVami's lineage. Only 4 out of 8 lineage
members do SPW behavior. This is due to the low intellectual faculty of themonkeys of this lineage.
7) In SPW behavior fresh water was used at first, then gradually salt water
was used. Some of the monkeys, who acquired the behavior in the second
period, began seasoning behavior with salt water instead of washing sweetpotatoes. Monkeys who perform both SPW and Seasoning behaviors are 12,
and those who do Seasoning behavior only are 7.
3. Wheat-washing Behavior
1) Wheat-washing behavior (WW behavior) was begun in 1956 by a fouryear-old female.
2) This "inventive" behavior was in the period of individual propagation,
the process of which was the same with that of SPW behavior.
3) Monkeys who acquired this behavior are 19. That is 38.7% of the totalof 49 monkeys.
4) Acquiring ages were 2, 3, and 4. There was no difference between
male and female. Only one adult acquired the behavior.

Pre-cultural Behavior of Japanese Monkeys

295) This behavior was beginning to spread through mother-child relationship and the spread will soon shift to pre-cuhural propagation.
6) Since 1959 Snatching behavior was witnessed. Young monkeys acquired
W W behavior through it, but adults did nothing but snatching. Importanceof Snatching behavior lies in the fact that monkeys take advantage of the productsof others' labor.
Behaviors of this kind have not yet been vcitnessed among
other troops of Japanese monkeys.
4. Bathing Behavior
1) Since 1959 there appeared monkeys who went in the sea. Up to thatyear monkeys of this troop did not go in the water. As of August, 1962, 63.2~oof monkeys older than two bathed in the sea.
2) This behavior was begun by juveniles of two and three years old, andspread quickly among others.
The percentage of acquisition of juveniles
adolescent is 96.1. In juvenile and adolescent there is no difference of thepercentage of acquisition between male and female.
3) The percentage of acquisition of adults is low 26.0. Difference ofsex in adult counts much in the acquisition; male 14.2%, female 4 4 . 4 ° .
4) This behavior can be considered fixed in the troop as its pre-culture.
5) Swimming monkeys are 10 (20.4~/o). Five juveniles bathed themselves in water for playing and avoiding the heat.
n 1
i or
5. Give-me-some Denav
1) Give-me-some behavior (GM behavior) is an anticipatory response.
2) Monkeys who do G M behavior are 78.7°/~,. Differences of sex and age
do not count much in its acquisition. Difference f)om SPW, WW, and B
behaviors is the high percentage of acquisition of adults.
3) Many monkeys who do not do G M behavior are lbund in the .A"ami'slineage. This suggests that in some lineages the acquisition of this behavior isditticuh.
4) G M behavior was born out of tile friendly relationship to men. It isa symbolic behavior that represents the tixed attitude of the troop towardsmen.
6. Meaning of Pre-cuhural Behavior
1) Bathing is an adaptive behavior to the environment. That the adaptive
behavior is controlled by troop society is worth noticing.
2) SPW and W W behaviors are noteworthy as "inventive" behaviors.
They are important fi)r their connection with tool using and material culture
or for the consideration of the genesis of material culture.
3) G M behavior is an implicit prc-culture. It will provide an interesting
standpoint for evolution in its relation to the problems of value-attitudc system
and institution.
7. Environmental FactorsI) The newly acquired behaviors of the Koshima troop have been developed by provisionization.

30

M. KAWAI

2) Besides p r o v i s i o n i z a t i o n , c r e a t i v e f a c u l t y h a s b e e n c u l t i v a t e d t h r o u g h
t h e p r o c e s s o f lives i n w h i c h c o m p l e t e l y d i f f e r e n t e n v i r o n m e n t s , i.e., t h e m o u n t a i n ,t h e s a n d b e a c h , a n d t h e sea, a r e i n t e g r a t e d . F o r a l l t h e p r e - c u l t u r a l b e h a v i o r s
d i s c u s s e d h e r e a r e r e l a t e d to t h e s a n d b e a c h a n d t h e sea.

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