Monkeys able to ‘draw’ on recall

MONKEYS have a human- like ability to recall shapes from memory and “draw” them on a computer screen, a study has shown.

The animals’ memory skills go beyond recognising previously seen images.

Unlike recognition, recall demonstrates an ability to remember things not present “at the moment”.

It is necessary for planning and imagining and contributes to complex social behaviour and thinking skills.

Scientists showed that five rhesus monkeys could reproduce simple figures on a touch screen from memory.

The shapes included two or three boxes in a grid. When they were shown part of a shape, the monkeys had to “draw” in the rest of the image by touching the right locations.

Lead researcher Dr Benjamin Basile, from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, US, said: “The ability of monkeys to recall these shapes flexibly suggests that they might be able to recollect other types of information that would be useful to them in the wild.

“It’s exciting to speculate that they may be able to recollect the appearance of monkeys they know, what favourite foods look like, or the path they would have to take to get to a water source.”