A grape on poop tests monkey germophobia—but not how their outbreak spread
After a virus hit a macaque sanctuary in Texas, the question was whether experiencing an outbreak could make individual monkeys warier of picking up pathogens. The choice was a red grape on clean-looking wood or a red grape on macaque poop encased in epoxy. The study suggests the monkeys responded similarly to humans during COVID-19: by being extra germophobic. MacIntosh points out that the fecal-avoidance experiment bears little connection to how the initial outbreak spread, through bodily fluids transmitted through scratches or bites.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
The grape test is a clever proxy for avoidance, but a proxy is all it is: it measures avoidance of a visible contaminant, not knowledge of the virus's actual route.
The defense is reasonable: the claim isn't that the macaques understand viral transmission, only that they became more cautious.