Hot-spring bathing of wild monkeys in Shiga-Heights: origin and propagation of a cultural behavior

Abstract

The rise of primatology in Japan This paper aims to introduce a historical summary of hotspring bathing by wild Japanese monkeys of the Jigokudani area, Shiga-Heights, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata), often called snow monkeys, of Jigokudani developed hot-spring bathing behavior right after provisioning began in 1962 (Fig. 1). This behavior continues to gain increasing attention from people outside of Japan and the foreign media, but without a proper understanding of the origin of this behavior. This is mainly due to the lack of academic literature written on the topic, even in Japanese. I have studied the wild Japanese monkeys in Shiga-Heights (Matsuzawa et al. 1983; Wada and Matsuzawa 1986). In fact, I began my study of wild Japanese monkeys before my first encounter with the, now famous, female chimpanzee named Ai on November 10, 1977. I became familiar with the Shiga-Heights site between February 14 and 19, 1977, right after getting the position of assistant professor at the Primate Research Institute on December 1, 1976. I have even taken a hot bath with wild monkeys sharing the same hot tub. In this sense, I might be thought of as qualified to talk about the history of this fascinating behavior through my direct experience with the hot-spring bathing monkeys. I want to summarize the history of the hot-spring monkeys based on three important publications written in

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“…Experience of studying wild chimpanzees in the field is important, perhaps even essential for informed thinking about how to improve the captive environment. In parallel with my efforts to study chimpanzee cognition, I studied Japanese monkeys in the wild (Matsuzawa 2018), including field experiments on food aversion learning in their natural habitat (Matsuzawa et al 1983) and recording the spatial deployment of snow monkeys in the snow (Wada and Matsuzawa 1986).…”

Gorongosa and Sasagamine: intra-species behavioral variation in baboons and Japanese monkeys

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