>From: Jeffrey Fisher <jfisher at igc.org>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>Subject: Re: Blood and Soil (Nazi "Greens")Primates hunting
>Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2002 10:12:36 -0500
>
>thanks. continuing to do a little more research on this, as i'm very
>curious.
>
>so, fwiw: it looks rather as if chimps and bonobos both hunt red colobus
>monkeys, although one chimp subspecies gets chased around by the colobus,
>instead, in territorial battles. nevertheless, it looks as if meat (i.e.,
>mammal flesh, not insects), comprises about 2% of their diet in terms of
>number of different species consumed and about 4-6% in terms of time spent
>feeding (depending on availability of certain foods). relative volume or
>calorie intake is basically impossible to get observing the animals in the
>wild.
>
>note, however, that most "animal" consumption among the largely
>frugivorous/folivorous higher primates is the eating of *insects*, not
>flesh, and even a lot of that is incidental (e.g., insects on leaves when
>they eat the leaves). only chimps and bonobos eat meat out of that group,
>and only chimps hunt. even then, they seem not to do it very much and seem
>not to be especially good at it.
>
>a snippet from prominent primatologist/ethologist frans de waal on chimps
>and bonobos, including a bit about social behavior. the whole article is
>fascinating in many respects.
>
>"Fruit is central to the diets of both wild bonobos and chimpanzees. The
>former supplement with more pith from herbaceous plants, and the latter add
>meat. Although bonobos do eat invertebrates and occasionally capture and
>eat small vertebrates, including mammals, their diet seems to contain
>relatively little animal protein. Unlike chimpanzees, they have not been
>observed to hunt monkeys.
>
>"Whereas chimpanzees use a rich array of strategies to obtain foods – from
>cracking nuts with stone tools to fishing for ants and termites with sticks
>– tool use in wild bonobos seems undeveloped. (Captive bonobos use tools
>skillfully.) Apparently as intelligent as chimpanzees, bonobos have,
>however, a far more sensitive temperament. During World War II bombing of
>Hellabrun, Germany, the bonobos in a nearby zoo all died of fright from the
>noise; the chimpanzees were unaffected.
>
>"Bonobos are also imaginative in play. I have watched captive bonobos
>engage in "blindman's buff." A bonobo covers her eyes with a banana leaf or
>an arm or by sticking two fingers in her eyes. Thus handicapped, she
>stumbles around on a climbing frame, bumping into others or almost falling.
>She seems to be imposing a rule on herself: "I cannot look until I lose my
>balance." Other apes and monkeys also indulge in this game, but I have
>never seen it performed with such dedication and concentration as by
>bonobos."
>
>http://www.geocities.com/willc7/bonobos.html
>
>j
>
>On Sunday, July 7, 2002, at 10:55 PM, John Thornton wrote:
>
>>Chimpanzees hunt for food but also to form alliances and for greater
>>access
>>to females. Their meat consumption is far from entirely opportunistic. Of
>>primates only humans and chimps engage in this behaviour.
>>John Thornton
>>
>>>>Jeffrey Fisher wrote:
>>>>
>>>incidentally, i reiterate my initial point about other primates and
>>>their largely non-meat diets. orangutans, the most highly developed
>>>along with bonobos, eat only about 1-2% meat in their diets, entirely
>>>opportunistically. i'm not an expert on primatology, but this is my
>>>understanding.
>>
>>
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