The
Japanese monkey, Macaca fuscata, had been observed in the wild
for a period of over 30 years.
In
1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys
with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkeys liked the
taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant.
An 18-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem
by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick
to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and they
taught their mothers too.
This
cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys
before the eyes of the scientists. Between 1952 and 1958 all
the young monkeys learned to wash the sandy sweet potatoes to
make them more palatable. Only the adults who imitated their
children learned this social improvement. Other adults kept eating
the dirty sweet potatoes.
Then
something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958, a certain
number of Koshima monkeys were washing sweet potatoes - the exact
number is not known.
Let
us suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys
on Koshima Island who had learned to wash their sweet potatoes.
Let's further suppose that later that morning, the hundredth
monkey learned to wash potatoes.
THEN
IT HAPPENED!
By
that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes
before eating them. The added energy of this hundredth monkey
somehow created an ideological breakthrough!
But
notice. A most surprising thing observed by these scientists
was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes then jumped over
the sea
Colonies
of monkeys on other islands and the mainland troop of monkeys
at Takasakiyama began washing their sweet potatoes.
Thus,
when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, this new
awareness may be communicated from mind to mind. Although the
exact number may vary, this Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means
that when only a limited number of people know of a new way,
it may remain the conscious property of these people. But there
is a point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new
awareness, a field is strengthened so that this awareness is
picked up by almost everyone!
| Authors
Details: Ken Keyes Jr. |
|
