Monkeys Pay to View Porn
 

Finding shows that like humans, they value information according to social content
Like humans, monkeys will pay to see images of powerful and sexually attractive individuals, showing that they also value information according to its social content.

Economics and evolutionary theory predict that animals should selectively acquire information about others that's most useful for guiding behavior.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina have now provided evidence for the theory in male rhesus macaque monkeys.

Group behavior

In most monkey social groups, behavior is structured by kinship, dominance and reproductive status.

This suggests that related social information should be valued.

Previous studies have shown that monkeys would work to see other monkeys.

Juice payments

Robert Deaner and colleagues at Duke wanted to see whether monkeys placed value on the social relevance of other monkeys.

They tested this by measuring how much fruit juice monkeys would accept or forgo to see pictures of familiar monkeys.

They found that male monkeys would pay in juice to view female hindquarters or high-ranking monkeys' faces, but needed overpayment to view the faces of low-ranking monkeys.