Following a report of monkey-deer interactions earlier this year , researchers have now recorded the behaviour in another group of monkeysSexual interactions between snow monkeys and sika deer could be a new behavioural tradition within a group of monkeys observed in Japan, researchers have suggested. “The monkey-deer sexual interactions reported in our paper may reflect the early stage development of a new behavioural tradition at Minoo,” said Dr Noëlle Gunst-Leca, co-author of the study from the University of Lethbridge in Canada. To investigate, the team recorded the behaviour of snow monkeys at Minoo, north of Osaka in Japan. With only adolescent female monkeys spotted mounting deer, the team compared the interactions to sexual interactions between adolescent female monkeys. The successful sexual interactions observed involved a male deer, with the majority involving an adult male: two female deer and three young males courted by the monkeys simply reared up, unseating them.

Source: The Guardian December 15, 2017 14:20 UTC