Eli The Pet Monkey Wants Clean Teeth

Every time you are too lazy to brush your teeth, think about the fact that there is at least one monkey in the world who carefully takes care of oral hygiene. The capuchin named Eli is taught to use a toothbrush, and, apparently, the little primate likes it.

This monkey shows some pretty amazing oral hygiene habits. Eli is one of 3 pet monkeys residing in the filmmaker’s home. They are not only pets, they are part of the family and this video proves how well the monkey has adapted to a life in a human family. Eli the capucin is seen sitting in the corner of the sing cabinet washing its toothbrush, checking itself in the mirror behind if all is sparkling clean, and occasionally giving it a few more strokes with the brush.

Eli’s habits are easy to explain: first, its ability to communicate and mimic the behavior with its humans is amazing and second and more important, oral hygiene seems to be deeply coded into the monkey’s DNA. How?

A few years ago, Japanese scientists from Kyoto University found that some monkeys regularly remove the remains of food from the interdental spaces. Researchers studied a group of monkeys and were surprised to find that they care about oral health just as well as humans. They were cleaning their teeth using human hair that was found near the habitat. Special attention was paid to dental health by females with cubs - they were brushing their teeth twice as often as others and train their offspring. Way to go monkeys!