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RE: Chimps eat what?! Notes from the field
Great post. Raw in every sense of the word.
Do the chimps prefer any particular part of the colobus monkeys? Do higher ranking chimps take the "best" and leave less desirable parts for lower ranking members of the hunt? And do they eat all of the monkey? Or can researchers collect what remains to perhaps learn how they hunt and consume?
You are on a roll, @oldfangle. You ask the same questions as primatologists.
Even a full grown chimpanzee cannot consume an entire monkey. Since their digestive systems are designed for fruit, not tissue, it can take hours of chewing just for a bit of meat. Whoever has the carcass may select the best bits for themselves and the rest could go to others (those who crowd around begging for meat).
Here's an excerpt from a recent conference talk by Prof Ian Gilby of ASU, with one of the best titles ever : BRAAAINS!!!
Anecdotally, I've heard researchers from other sites say that chimpanzees love the hind guts. Maybe it depends on what kind of monkey or prey.
sorry I didn't answer all your questions in first reply
It's unclear. A good amount of data says whoever begs the most (i.e. harasses the holder) gets the most meat. Other data suggests that maybe chimpanzees may share reciprocally, a chimp will give more meat to their buddy and in turn may get meat from them later. This form of reciprocal altruism is extremely rare in nature and needs to be tested further.
Yes, but this is tough! I can't think of a systematic study on this, probably because we can't recover carcasses since they love them so much. Ethically, tricky to obtain and test wild meat nutritional content.
Thanks for the thorough, thoughtful and interesting replies. I find the issue of ethics in field research very interesting. I'm guessing this is an emerging side of the profession? A curious parallel on the part of Anthropologists to the targets of their study? Instead of rules on sharing meat, the humans develop rules on collecting and sharing information.