"Detective! Night Scoop" (ABC TV, Fridays at 11:17 PM) is a popular variety show where "detectives" tackle outlandish requests and worries submitted by viewers. On April 24th, Detective Kanpei Hazama investigated whether monkeys could peel a banana in three steps. Special Director Hiroshi En, Assistant Director Hiroshi Tamura, and Secretary Saori Masuda appeared on the show.
The request came from a 53-year-old woman in Osaka Prefecture. One day, while the woman was eating a banana, her daughter told her, "Apparently, monkeys can peel a banana in three steps." Incidentally, it takes humans four steps.
"Is that really true?" I thought, and watched a video of a monkey, and it really did peel and eat the food three times. I can't stop wondering if other monkeys do it three times too. I'd like to ask a detective who "can understand monkeys' feelings" to investigate.
Even without knowing anything about the request, Detective Kanpei, who "understands the feelings of monkeys," met with the client and was immediately asked to "eat a banana." He peeled it four times, proving that the client was indeed a "human."
According to animal hunter Hirofumi Nakaoka, since bananas are square-shaped, humans probably peel them in four steps along the lines to make them easier to peel. In contrast, Nakaoka speculates that monkeys might peel them in two or even three steps to avoid having other monkeys take them.
The client and the detective immediately headed to "Monkey Kingdom" on Shodoshima Island in Kagawa Prefecture, home to approximately 300 monkeys. They began their investigation, but a monkey snatched a banana from the detective and, without even peeling it, took a big bite.
