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Published online 11 June 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.882
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Monkeys understand money
Capuchins can appreciate the purchasing power of tokens such as poker chips.
Capuchin monkeys can use tokens to 'buy' their favourite food, and can decide whether to trade for one piece of tasty food, or many pieces of a less appetizing snack.
An experiment, led by Elsa Addessi at the CNR, the Italian National Research Council, in Rome, Italy, shows that capuchins, like us, can understand the symbolic value of an otherwise mundane object.
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