Can monkeys have autism? The answer could help us understand what causes the condition

Description

When Kyoko Yoshida and his colleagues in Japan noticed one of their research monkeys was behaving strangely, they decided to study it more closely. They realised that some of the behaviour it was displaying – repetition, reduced social behaviours and an impaired ability to change behaviour in response to others’ actions – bore similarities to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in humans. They found more similarities with autistic humans when they studied the monkey’s DNA.