Laboratory and field research – My experience with capuchin monkeys

Elisabetta Visalberghi, Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie del Consiglio Nazionale delle

Ricerche, Roma Italia.

Abstract: The Swiss primatologist Hans Kummer demanded a strong interchange between laboratory and field research. In fact, it is often the case that the field researcher has questions that only proper experiments can answer, or that the laboratory researcher reaches conclusions whose correct interpretation requires field observations. I used both approaches to understand the behavior of capuchin monkeys and I also bridged them by carrying out field experiments,. Here, I will illustrate how my colleagues and I proceeded in exploring the issues of flexible tool use and social learning and discuss how much easier, for laymen and scientists as well, is to accept something that can be easily seen (i.e., tool use) than something that is not so evident (as it is in the case of “feeble” social biases).