Baboons cut teeth on the ‘floss’ lesson
BABOONS may floss their teeth as a way of learning to express their personalities, research suggests.
A student observing the monkeys’ behaviour in a zoo watched them carefully clean their mouths as part of a grooming process.
Some pulled out hair from themselves or from fellow troop members’ bodies, while others teased bristles from brooms.
Charlotte Morgan is researching whether the behaviour, first noted at Devon’s Paignton Zoo a few years ago, is related to personality traits.
Exeter University student Charlotte said it was difficult to know how the baboons had picked up the habit to begin with.
But she added: “It is very exciting. There may be a social learning element.”