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Moon7296 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
coherency, logic
There’s an absolutely fascinating study that deals with something called the “100th monkey syndrome.” In his book Life-Tide, biologist Lyall Watson recounted what happened in a monkey tribe on an island near Japan after a new food, freshly dug up sweet potatoes still covered with sand, was introduced into their midst. Since their other food required no preparation, the monkeys were reluctant to eat the dirty potatoes. Then one monkey solved the problem by washing the potatoes in a stream and taught her playmates to do the same. Once a certain number of monkeys — about one hundred of them — had acquired this knowledge, other monkeys who had no contact with them at all, even the monkeys living on other islands, began to do the same thing.
Q) Do you know what the connection is between the underlined part?
I was wondering why "the monkeys" were reluctnat to eat "the dirty potatoes" when it is said that "other food required no preparation," which I interpret as the monkeys just eat anything.
Doesn't the "other food required no preparation" mean the monkeys do not mind eating dirty food? Then why it later says "one monkey solved the problem?"
Q) Do you know what the connection is between the underlined part?
I was wondering why "the monkeys" were reluctnat to eat "the dirty potatoes" when it is said that "other food required no preparation," which I interpret as the monkeys just eat anything.
Doesn't the "other food required no preparation" mean the monkeys do not mind eating dirty food? Then why it later says "one monkey solved the problem?"
Top answer
I imagine that the monkeys' other foods, perhaps fruit, aren't dug up, and so don't have a lot of dirt on them. The monkeys aren't used to eating foods that are covered with dirt, and don't enjoy getting sand in their mouths with every bite.
- I imagine that the monkeys' other foods, perhaps fruit, aren't dug up, and so don't have a lot of dirt on them.
- The monkeys aren't used to eating foods that are covered with dirt, and don't enjoy getting sand in their mouths with every bite.
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2 Answers
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I imagine that the monkeys' other foods, perhaps fruit, aren't dug up, and so don't have a lot of dirt on them. The monkeys aren't used to eating foods that are covered with dirt, and don't enjoy getting sand in their mouths with every bite.
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The monkeys' food up until then had consisted entirely of dirt-free items, for example: berries, nuts, insects, grass, etc. That is, they had never before had to dig for food items. Thus, food covered with dirt caused them to hesitate, albeit momentarily: they quickly figured out how to remove the dirt by washing.
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