Flossing After Meals: Even a Monkey Knows It's Important

I don't recall ever hearing anyone say how much they enjoy the act of flossing. But even a monkey knows how important it is to maintain good oral hygiene.

As Discovery reports, researchers at Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute in Japan have observed one fastidious female macaque who routinely goes on seek and destroy missions for bits of stuck food between her teeth. The dental health weapon of choice is her own hair.

According to Discovery, macaques commonly display the behavior of biting onto their own hair then pulling and dragging it through clenched teeth as a technique for removing parasites. The researchers theorize that Chonpe, the macaque in question, may have independently discovered that a stuck irritant was removed or may have observed the bits of food stuck to her fur after a routine hair chomping.

Not only has Chonpe's flossing since become part of her daily routine, but she has devised three differing techniques for getting the job done. She will bite and drag hairs that remain in place (her own or a close, unwitting accomplice), she will hold longer hairs that remain in place with both hands, and she will remove hairs altogether and floss with both hands, perhaps the most recognizable method to us (excepting for the bit about using our own plucked hairs, of course).

Photo courtesy of KaurJmeb, via Wikimedia Commons