Yo! Scratch This!

1:45 PM -- Monkey science news from researchers at the University of Michigan:

It was once thought that only humans gestured to direct another person's attention, but such "referential" gesturing was recently observed in wild chimpanzees.

John Mitani, University of Michigan anthropology professor, and colleague Simone Pika, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at University of St. Andrews in Scotland, observed male chimps habitually using "directed scratches" to request grooming of specific areas on the body. The findings suggest that our closest living relatives may be capable of mental-state attribution, making inferences about the knowledge of others.

So, there you have it: We know what we like and we know how to get it.

— Larry, Attack Monkey, Light Reading