Macaques doing datun or brushing teeth with neem tree leaves!

Extremely rare footage of Rhesus macaques actually using the germicidal properties of the Neem tree to brush their teeth by biting into the bark - exactly the behaviour that us Indians have indulged in for many centuries, as a precursor to modern day flossing, toothpaste and toothbrushes! Now if this is not evolved behaviour and the quintessence of Darwinian evolution, what is?

Has anyone come across this behaviour before? Please report it to us, if so, as we're planning to submit the finding to the BNHS and other wildlife research bodies.

Monkeys living in their natural habitat in Sundarban, one of the largest mangrove forest which is classified as a moist tropical forest making the wildlife sustainable.

The Sundarbans is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world. Sundarban National Park is a National Park, Tiger Reserve, and a Biosphere Reserve in India. The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering parts of Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat District in southwestern Bangladesh.

Located in Bangladesh, the Sundarbans borders the Sundarbans National Park in the Indian state of West Bengal. Sundarbans is divided into three protected forests in Bangladesh namely Sundarbans South, East and West Wildlife Sanctuary. This region is densely covered by mangrove forests, and is one of the largest reserves for the Bengal tiger. There is much more wildlife here than just the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). Most importantly, mangroves are a transition from the marine to freshwater and terrestrial systems, and provide critical habitat for numerous species of small fish, crabs, shrimps and other crustaceans that adapt to feed and shelter, and reproduce among the tangled mass of roots, known as pneumatophores, which grow upward from the anaerobic mud to get the supply of oxygen. Fishing Cats, Macaques, wild boars, Common Grey Mongooses, Foxes, Jungle Cats, Flying Foxes, Pangolins, and spotted deer are also found in abundance in the Sundarbans.

source - Wikipedia

This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM / SR 1080i High Definition, Alexa, SR, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang @ gmail . com and [email protected].