Comments on: Chimpanzee Food Sharing

By: Paul Martin

Paul Martin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:21:37 +0000

Hi Greg

I would like to use the above picture and some of your data to write a question in a Biology Olympiad (NZ) exam – all non-profit organisation.

Can I have your permission to do so? I will of course give full accreditation to you.

Cheers!

Paul

By: AK

AK — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:34:35 +0000

A couple of interesting references: Food sharing in wild pygmy chimpanzees, Pan paniscus by F White - Current Primatology, 1992. Food and the Status Quest By Pauline Wilson Wiessner, Polly Wiessner, Wulf SchiefenhÃ¶vel especially Dominance Status, Food Sharing, and Reproductive Success in Chimpanzees by William C. McGrew, and Food Sharing and Status in Unprovisioned Bonobos by Gottfried hohmann and Barbara Fruth. Both of these are somewhat older, but provide a wealth of detail.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:48:57 +0000

… but I do overstate the monkey quiet thing. There are many species of monkeys and many, probably most, do not make food calls (or copulation call). It’s just that some do.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:45:04 +0000

Monkey: NOM! NOM! NOM!

Chimp: (nom nom nom)

By: khan

khan — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:58:37 +0000

Not all that different are we?

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:53:12 +0000

That’s a good question. A feeding chimp is a quiet chimp. But this is not true in all primates. Some primates give food calls to indicate that they’ve found something, but then they seem to regret it later.

By: llewelly

llewelly — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:42:13 +0000

Another consideration related to sharing is “package size.” One of the null arguments (meaning, in this case, the argument that there is not really anything interesting going on) with the sharing of meat among chimpanzees is the package size argument. Most fruits are small, so you can’t share them, but meat comes in very large packages (compared to fruit).

At the top of your blog post is a chimp near the top of a tree full of fruit. When a chimp makes such a find, (be it cultivated or not) does it tell its fellows, or does it keep the tree secret?

By: Mike Haubrich, FCD

Mike Haubrich, FCD — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:38:12 +0000

Now dawns on me the reason that I have not had much sexual interaction with the female gender as of late. I have been hoarding my papaya.

Thanks, Greg. I resolve now to share my papaya.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:02:57 +0000

Clarification: Nathan’s comments, and here and there other comments on this blog, are answers to strange, obnoxious, and profane comments (sometime using my name, sometimes another name) that are coming from an obnoxious source in Sayreville area, NJ. Since those comments have been moved off line and into the “Investigate” category, Nathan’s or other comments may not make sense. Not Nathan’s (or other’s) fault, obviously.

I apologize post hoc and a priori for those comments that usually involve comments about how this blog is/is not science interlaces with references to drinking pee and so on.

The individual making the comments is not known to me, but it is not that easy to hide on the internet, and the proprietors of the ISP he is using have been notified and an abuse complaint issued. We’ll see how that goes. The Abuse people at that ISP have been very cooperative.

Thank you for your patience and continuing interest in my humble blog.

That is all.

By: Nathan Myers

Nathan Myers — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:27:41 +0000

This must have something to do with a dustup on those cliqueists’ blogs. Greg just gave them a papaya, but I doubt there will be any exchange.

Greg, if you like reading their blogs, read them. Why try to interact? They don’t consider you a potential mating partner, so they will only amuse one another by hurling feces at you.