There Is More than One Way to Crack an Oyster: Identifying Variation in Burmese Long-Tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis aurea) Stone-Tool Use

PLoS One. 2015 May 13;10(5):e0124733. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124733. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

We explored variation in patterns of percussive stone-tool use on coastal foods by Burmese long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis aurea) from two islands in Laem Son National Park, Ranong, Thailand. We catalogued variation into three hammering classes and 17 action patterns, after examining 638 tool-use bouts across 90 individuals. Hammering class was based on the stone surface used for striking food, being face, point, and edge hammering. Action patterns were discriminated by tool material, hand use, posture, and striking motion. Hammering class was analyzed for associations with material and behavioural elements of tool use. Action patterns were not, owing to insufficient instances of most patterns. We collected 3077 scan samples from 109 macaques on Piak Nam Yai Island's coasts, to determine the proportion of individuals using each hammering class and action pattern. Point hammering was significantly more associated with sessile foods, smaller tools, faster striking rates, smoother recoil, unimanual use, and more varied striking direction, than were face and edge hammering, while both point and edge hammering were significantly more associated with precision gripping than face hammering. Edge hammering also showed distinct differences depending on whether such hammering was applied to sessile or unattached foods, resembling point hammering for sessile foods and face hammering for unattached foods. Point hammering and sessile edge hammering compared to prior descriptions of axe hammering, while face and unattached edge hammering compared to pound hammering. Analysis of scans showed that 80% of individuals used tools, each employing one to four different action patterns. The most common patterns were unimanual point hammering (58%), symmetrical-bimanual face hammering (47%) and unimanual face hammering (37%). Unimanual edge hammering was relatively frequent (13%), compared to the other thirteen rare action patterns (<5%). We compare our study to other stone-using primates, and discuss implications for further research.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animal Shells / anatomy & histology
  • Animals
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Diet
  • Female
  • Hand / physiology*
  • Macaca fascicularis / physiology
  • Macaca fascicularis / psychology*
  • Male
  • Ostreidae / anatomy & histology
  • Posture / physiology
  • Shellfish
  • Thailand
  • Tool Use Behavior / physiology*

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.1320534.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Thailand Research Fund (Grant RSA/G2/2545 and RMU 4880019), The Center for Excellence in Biodiversity at Chulalongkorn University, the Ratchadapisek Sompoch Endowment Fund (2013), Chulalongkorn University (Sci-Super 2014-021), the Ministry of Education (Singapore), Academic Research Fund (Grant RG07/95), the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (CoHASS) Incentive Grant, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, and a research grant for doctoral students from The Leakey Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.