Wild Chimps Exchange Meat for Sex
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
A savory meat dinner goes a long way, as in all the way, in the chimp world, according to a new study that found wild male chimpanzees exchange meat for sex with females on a long-term basis.
It’s also suspected the same holds true for hunter-gatherer humans, since earlier studies show better hunters tend to have more sexual partners. Females of both primate species benefit by receiving better nutrition, especially during depleting fertile periods, so they may be driving the relationship between reproductive success and good male hunting skills.
It is not always easy, however, for a female chimp to obtain her extra protein.
“Females who are bolder or are more relaxed around males will approach the male who is in possession of meat and try to take a piece of meat or immediately start eating from the carcass,” lead author Cristina Gomes told Discovery News.
“The male will either not react to this and allow the female to eat, or will pull the meat away from the female, to which females usually react by screaming, crying or throwing a temper tantrum,” added Gomes, a researcher in the Department of Primatology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology.
Continue reading at Discovery News
Photo: Graham Racher/Flickr
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