據一份針對巴西僧帽猴（capuchin monkeys）行為模式所做的新研究顯示，猴子會相互習取使用石塊的技巧，而這種學習方式相當近似人類，換言之，其他靈長生物的一些行為表現與人類文化雷同；不過此立論仍尚待證實。
巴西生物人類學家慕拉博士（Antonio Moura）在研究過程中，發現巴西東北部的僧帽猴群為了避開潛藏的掠食者，會集體敲擊石塊作為發訊裝置。類似的事例曾出現大猩猩與黑猩猩的群集之中，證實此類猿猴具有社會學習的能力，不過到現在為止，還沒有證據證明中南美洲的新世界靈長類也具有同等能力，其中包括僧帽猴。慕拉博士指出，持續敲擊物體是出自生物本能，在本研究之前所觀察到的敲擊行為，都是生物為了取得糧秣所致；但是敲擊石塊的舉止完全顛覆過去的觀察經驗。
慕拉博士描述僧帽猴敲擊石塊的動作是個新奇且值得注意的行為，迄今從未發現人類以外的靈長類生物有這樣的舉動。早期人類在考古學上也出現相似的石器技術，而隨著愈來愈多例證浮現，科學家們希望可藉此窺探人類遠古先祖的行為模式。
Monkeys can learn skills from each other in the same way that humans do, according to a new study of capuchin monkeys in Brazil. While not conclusive, this research into the way monkeys use stones suggests other species have something approaching human culture. Dr. Antonio Moura, a Brazilian researcher of Biological Anthropology, has discovered signs that a group of capuchin monkeys in northeastern Brazil bang stones together as a signaling device to ward off potential predators.
A strong case has already been made for great apes, such as gorillas and chimpanzees, having a capacity for social learning, but until now there has been no evidence of such culture among the New World primates of Central or South America, including capuchins. Banging objects is an innate behavior in capuchin monkeys, but in all wild groups observed before this research the behavior had only happened in a foraging context. Banging stones is "an entirely new variant," Dr. Moura said.
Dr. Moura describes this act of stone-banging as "a remarkable and novel" behavior which has yet to be observed in any other non-human primate species. Similar evidence of stone technology is found in the archaeological record of the earliest humans, and as more evidence emerges, scientists hope the ancient ancestry of human behavior will become clear.
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