Cartridge Monkey

Monkeys take to male grooming

Friday 01 December, 2006

We've all heard that men are taking more interest and pride in their appearance and the whole male grooming world these days. Well, did you know the same applies to male monkeys?

While some women may argue that men and monkeys are one and the same, a group of scientists has discovered that monkeys too like to smell good for their fellow female treetop swingers.

According to a paper in the journal Primates, male spider monkeys from Mexico have been observed by a Swedish zoology professor and colleagues chewing three kinds of leaves and then rubbing their spit over themselves in a deodorant-style regime.

"I think the behaviour may be some kind of signalling, although I am not convinced," Christina Campbell, a scientist at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California at Los Angeles, told Discovery News.

"I also wonder whether it may function to stimulate or clean the gland that they rub the plant mixture on."

While it may not be as effective or advanced as cleanse, tone and moisturise, it certainly suggests that our monkey friends are ahead in the fragrance stakes of a lot of people who travel on the London Underground.

News

Monkeys take to male grooming

More news articles...