Into the Fire: Problem-Solving and Pyrocognitive Behavior of Temple Dwelling Bonnet Macaques, Macaca radiata, in India

Pyrocognition has been part of the hominin behavioral repertoire for at least one million years. Here, we report evidence of naturally occurring pyrocognitive behavior in wild bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) inhabiting a temple site in India. We recorded 2704 instances of macaques attempting to extinguish the fire in offering lamps that contained a food reward (sesame seeds, rice flour, or coconut). Overall, we found significant variation associated with age, with adults experiencing higher foraging success (males 81.1% and females 75.3%) than subadults (males 30.1% and females 18.8%). In addition, there was a positive correlation between the number of lamp manipulations and foraging success among adults, but not among subadults. It appears that despite extensive exposure to burning lamps, subadult bonnet macaques failed to fully understand how their actions in attempting to extinguish the fire resulted in obtaining the food reward. In contrast, over time several adult bonnet macaques appeared to understand how their actions in extinguishing the fire resulted in successfully obtaining a food reward (i.e., causal knowledge). Our results indicate that pyrocognitive behavior develops slowly in bonnet macaques, differs between adults and subadults, is not sex-based, and provides an instructive model for pyrocognition in early hominins.