The Japanese macaque (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 monkey 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. Since then the Japanese macaque had been
nicknamed "the Potato Cleaner".
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!
From the book "The Hundredth Monkey" by Ken Keyes, Jr.
The book is not copyrighted and the material may be reproduced in whole or in part.
The More I Laugh, The More
I Think!
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