Monkey morality Sharing might not be as nice as it's cracked up to be. 14 January 2004
MICHAEL HOPKIN
Have you ever given a friend part of your dessert just so they will stop bugging you for some?
You're not alone - chimpanzees and monkeys share their food with others to avoid hassle too.
The question of why animals give food to others is a tricky one. Previous theories suggested that
generous animals might benefit from similar kindness at a later time.
But the no-hassle approach offers a simpler explanation, says Jeffrey Stevens, who carried out the
study at the University of Minnesota. Scrounger and donor are both acting in their best interests -
the beggar gets food and the other is left in peace.
Stevens placed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) or squirrel monkeys (Saimiri boliviensis) in a cage and
provided them with a meal of fruit. In an adjoining cage was a hungry member of the same species.
The primates rarely passed food through the cage to their hungry mate next door. But if the
partition was opened - giving the hungry animal the chance to beg, steal or fight for food - sharing
was common.
It is analogous to a parent buying a child a toy just to shut them up, says Stevens. "It's a selfish
way to stop the constant pestering," he says.
Intriguingly, hungry chimps harassed their neighbour more when the food was cut into small chunks.
This could reflect the fact that a beggar is more likely to get a handout if it doesn't seriously
deplete the donor's stash.
Read the rest at Nature nature.com040112 4.htmlOpen ↗
Posted by Robert Karl Stonjek.