Researchers have found that some monkeys use weather clues to decide when and where to search for food just like humans to check the weather forecast before shopping for food.

Researchers of the University of St. Andrew in Britain have learned that some fruit-loving primates appear smart enough to intensify their search for figs after a run of warm days has ripened the fruit, according to New Scientist on Monday.

The researchers followed a group of up to 24 grey-cheeked mangabeys (Lophocebus albigena) every 10 minutes from dusk until dawn for 210 days over the course of a year, mapped the location of 80 fig trees within the monkeys' 600-hectare range in Uganda, noted whenever the monkeys came within 100 meters of a previously visited fig tree, and recorded sunlight levels and temperature.

The researchers found that a series of warm days meant the monkeys were more likely to revisit fig trees in which they had found fruit before. And sunny skies on a given day would increase this likelihood even further.

The variety of the fruit shows little visible sign of change with shifting weather conditions, ruling out visual clues, they said.

The availability of ripe figs remains the same regardless of season in Uganda, making it all the more important for the animals to pick up on day-to-day weather variation, the researchers said.

Ripening fruit does emit a scent, but the mangabeys were also more likely to visit trees with unripe figs in good weather than in bad weather, according to the researchers.

Source: Xinhua